One Piece: The Night
by ichiro92
Summary: Right off the heels of the Whitebeard War, several mysterious disappearances occur. Now it's up to Luffy and his scattered crew to stop this new deadly foe before they leave chaos and destruction in their wake...
1. Prologue: A Look into the Darkness

******Hey there! I've been around for a bit on Fanfic, but this is my first story based on One Piece. Although I'm not quite sure on all of the details, I do plan on making this story three acts long, with each act being around 20-30 chapters or so (so it's going to be a long story). I won't hold you any longer, just be sure to review, and please enjoy my newest story! **

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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_Act 1: The Hunt_

We need help, the Poet reckoned.  
—Edward Dorn

———

**1: Prologue- A Look into the Darkness**

_Twenty years…it's been twenty years since the age of piracy began. Twenty years of hope, loss, freedom, and adventure._

Victor coughed several times and alternatively shivered. Pulling up a blanket to his shoulders, he drudged himself over to the open window. With a grunt, he forced it down, cutting off the cool breeze that was coming in.

Victor himself never liked the cold; one might say that he in fact loathed it. Back when he was six, he and his parents visited a winter island. At that time, he was young and naïve, and saw the snow as a wondrous thing.

_("Mommy, Mommy, look! Look at that reindeer! The snow is so perfect; I love it! Do you see Mommy? Look, look…")_

It was there that he accidentally wandered out too far to chase a particularly fast snow bunny. Victor's parents saw it as harmless fun as they let him go on his useless chase. The fun ended, however, when he ran onto the frozen lake. Not knowing of its properties, he ran on it without a care in the world, his feet pounding on the thin ice.

He wasn't that far in before the ice gave way. His weight was too much for the ice and he fell in; the cold lake water instantly shocking him. Luckily, his most basic instincts kicked in as he was able to claw at the ice with his hands, keeping himself from falling in completely and being taken under the thicker parts of the ice. His father was on him immediately, and was able to pull him out. The damage, however, was done, as more than seventy-five percent of his body was wet, and the cold air wasn't making it any better.

Being taken to the hospital, Victor suffered a terrible fever. The doctors estimated that he wouldn't live, but what did doctors know? Throughout his entire ordeal, his mother kept saying the same thing to him over and over, as if it had the magic power to heal her dying child.

_"Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger…"_

Those words turned out to be true for Victor, as he was able to pull through. Ever since then, however, he has had no desire to ever go to any place that is snowing ever again. In one small act, it turned a carefree child into someone who was always wary and now thought that the world was out to get him.

Victor trekked back to where he was sitting and pulled the blanket on just a little bit tighter. Since that experience, any hint at cold weather made Victor shiver.

"_Thinking back, that was probably the experience that started turning me into the cynic that I am,_" Victor thought with a laugh.

_Twenty years…twenty years since the world got infested with pirates._

Victor himself was not old, nor could he be called young either. He had been alive on that fateful day when the World Government sent Gold Roger to his death. He remembered the exact words the Pirate King uttered right before he was killed. Victor remembered thinking that those words would spark a revolution. Victor supposed that that saying could be applied to Roger's sake, even though he had been killed.

"Whatever doesn't kill you makes you

_(a cynic) _

stronger," Victor said out loud. There was no need to be quiet; no one else was around.

_Twenty years since villages got pillaged, people got stolen from, murders were committed, and a plethora of other unspeakable acts that would make any greenhorn shiver with uneasiness._

Victor's hatred for pirates could not be measured by any known chart or graph. Indeed he had had many a dealings with pirates in his past, and almost all of them were on unpleasant terms. It was pirates, after all, who killed Victor's parents during a village raid. His father had always been a man of action, a real man's man as some might put it. His hard life growing up as a lumberman might have accounted for that. He had taught Victor everything he needed to know about being a man. Victor took these lessons to heart when he was younger, and he loved his father dearly for it.

_"Remember this Victor," _he recalled him telling him once when he was seven_; "it takes a man with guts and strength to change anything in this world. Things are the way they are because there are a bunch of chicken shits (Victor's father was never one to censor himself with language) at the top who are too afraid to do anything about it. If it were up to me, everyone would grow a pair and defend what is rightfully theirs."_

It was this philosophy, ironically, that had sent his father to an early grave. The pirates only wanted their money and treasured belongings, but his father's philosophy stayed true until the end, and effectively ended his and his wife's life the moment he took his lumberman's axe and resisted.

Unfortunately for both of Victor's parents, they were killed, so they did not get any stronger.

Victor wasn't extremely young at the time—the Age of Piracy had been going on for at least three years when this happened and he had moved away from his parents many years back—but their deaths still affected him deeply. If his near-death experience with his fever didn't cement him as a complete cynic, then his parent's death certainly did.

_Twenty years since lands were ravaged and imperialism ruled. Twenty years since the police and marines were completely rendered ineffective, as they could barely stop any of the atrocities that were going on around them. _

Around six years ago, Victor had learned that his village was taken over by a bunch of pirates (he believed they were called the Whitebeard Pirates, but Victor wouldn't bet his life on it).

Growing up on the Grand Line made everyone tough. He himself had grown up on Ladaka Isle, a small island that was not noticed or cared about. In a way, this made it relatively safe from pirates (although the raid that killed Victor's parents speaks to the contrary), as they just passed over it without a care.

It mostly made its living on its vast lumber industry. The island itself had forests of strange trees known as Ortan Trees, which were indigenous only to the Isle of Ladaka. Although scientists never confirmed (or they just didn't care), something in the tree made it grow back a little bit quicker, stronger, and faster every time it was cut down. This made collecting lumber a breeze and Ladaka a thriving—albeit relatively unknown—town. Its main buyer were the shipwrights at Water 7, and they paid handsomely for the lumber to make their ships.

Naturally, the people wanted to keep this a tight secret. The government knew that if people found out about their replenishing lumber supply, they would get targeted a lot more. There were a few attacks here or there (as Victor so vehemently remembers), but the number of attacks would quadruple if people learned of their most precious resource.

While the government did a commendable job of keeping it a secret, word got out to the shipwrights of Water 7, believing them to be a trustworthy source. It was only until recently that Victor found out the intelligence was leaked through a secret government agency known as CP9, who were undercover as shipwrights.

Although the news didn't spread like wildfire, one well known pirate crew in particular (once again the name Whitebeard comes into mind, but one can ever know for sure), caught wind of the information and has since, declared the island their territory, and all of the lumber goes to their massive ship fleets.

Unfortunately for the people of Ladaka Isle, whatever didn't kill them did _not_ make them stronger.

_Twenty years since the world went to shit._

Victor growled as he thought of these memories again, fueling his rage even more at pirates in general. What's the adventure in murdering innocents and taking over countries? Victor could find no answer, and that is what angered him even more.

Getting up he went over and got himself a bottle of Bink's Sake. Getting a small glass, he began to pour himself a drink (with no ice, as Victor hates anything cold). Corking it, he went back to his seat and took a sip.

"Soon it will all come to fruition," he said quietly to himself as he took another sip of the sake. "Just you watch world, I shall right all of the wrongs that have been committed these past twenty years."

As if by fate, there was a knock on the door. Not acting surprised, Victor took another sip and simply said, "Come in."

The door opened and in walked a single man. He calmly eyed the surroundings he had just entered and saw Victor sitting in his chair with a glass in his hand. He always made it a habit to check his surroundings before entering them completely. While some might see this as skeptical, he sees it as being cautious.

"Hello Victor," he said as he closed the door behind him and walked closer to the self-proclaimed cynic.

"Ah, Tobias, come in and make yourself comfortable," said Victor taking yet another sip. "Would you like a drink?"

"Nothing alcoholic thanks," Tobias said. "But if you happen to have any orange juice…"

"Of course, of course," he said, getting up from his seat and getting a glass. He brought out a box of orange juice (not refrigerated simply because he has no refrigerator) and poured Tobias a glass.

He walked over towards Tobias and handed him the drink.

"Thanks," was his only reply.

"Sit down, sit down," Victor said, motioning to the empty chair across from his. Tobias happily obliged.

Tobias himself was a man in his mid-to-late thirties and appeared around five-nine with a lean if not slightly muscular body. Despite this, had somewhat of a youthful face, but his most prominent feature was that he was completely bald. He wore a simple white vest with what looked like white bandages underneath. Other than that, he was a normal looking fellow that someone wouldn't take two glances at.

"So my friend," Victor said with a smile, "what news have you for me?"

"I've just come to let you know that they are in position; they'll be ready to move out on your order."

"Fantastic!" Victor said, standing up and clasping Tobias's shoulder. "Soon my friend, very soon we shall see the fruits of our labor. The time is nigh; the time for change is here."

Tobias didn't seem amused by this as he quietly moved Victor's hand from his shoulder and stood up himself. Downing the rest of his orange juice, he set the glass down and said, "So I have your order then?"

"Of course."

Tobias nodded. "Then I'll take my leave."

He walked towards the door as Victor smiled and waved saying, "I shall see you very soon my friend. Very soon."

Tobias didn't respond as he left, quietly closing the door behind him.

Victor sighed as he dropped his façade that he put on when Tobias arrived. Getting back over to his seat, he downed the rest of his drink and stared at the empty glass for a while.

"You know," he said to himself, "I don't think I've ever had a better drink in my life."

Laughing to himself, Victor threw the glass against the wall; it shattered into a thousand pieces effortlessly.

_It's been twenty years since the Age of Pirates began, and very soon, it would all come to an end._

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Hope you enjoyed it. I will be updating every Saturday (and maybe some days inbetween).

**Please Review!**


	2. Let the New Age Come

Hey, here's the second chapter of my story, basically wrapping up all that happened within the Marineford arc in the manga. Enjoy!

**As a side note, I did read chapter 576, but I had already written this chapter before it came out and came up with my own alternate ending. While I was able to change a few things about it (like the entire Blackbeard thing), please know that it does stray away from what actually happens. So from here on out, it will be my own story in place of the one in the manga as an alternate ending, if you will...**

**Continued from Chapter 575...**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**2: Let the New Age Come**

_Blackbeard's arrival was…unexpected to say the least._

_Needless to say, everyone—including Whitebeard—was shocked to see him here, especially after such a costly battle. Such things, however, rarely interested Whitebeard anymore. He had made his resolve, and intended to stick with it. The rift had formed, and all of his comrades were free and able to escape. Now, only one thing was left in Whitebeard's mind._

_Destroying the Marineford._

_"Zehahahahaha! I'm glad I could make it to see you die old man!" shouted the seemingly triumphant Blackbeard. _

_There he was, the one who killed Thatch and sent Ace off on that manhunt to begin with. If it wasn't for him and his betrayal, none of this would have happened. Such thoughts angered Whitebeard immensely, but that anger only aggravated his wounds, and subsequently hastened his death. _

_What the marines were focused on, however, was the men Blackbeard was with. The most obvious was that of Colossal Battleship San Juan Wolf, but there was also Corrupt King Abalo Pizarro, the Great Drunk Basco Shot, Crescent Moon Hunter Catarina Devon, and Shiryu of the Rain. _

_"What is the meaning of this Blackbeard?" Sengoku shouted. "Why would you just let these criminals who have been erased from history free from Impel Down?"_

_"That's none of your concern!" he yelled back with a laugh. "It's all part of the plan, oh, and by the way, I don't need your stupid Shichibukai title anymore anyway!"_

_"What a disaster!" Sengoku snarled. _

_"Don't worry; I don't plan on attackin' your men or anything! I'm only here to send the old man off!"_

_Blackbeard pointed at Whitebeard with triumph._

_Whitebeard grimaced as Blackbeard chose him as his target. Gripping his bisento, his muscles tightened; it was strange how just now, Whitebeard could see how slowly everything moved. Those youngsters were always taking things too fast, and they rarely stopped to smell the roses, so to speak. It's ironic that Whitebeard himself hasn't been doing much of that lately, as he was letting life pass him by far too rapidly._

_The sun beating down on his skin, the breeze cooling down his sweaty body, even the sound of the waves crashing against the shore came into Whitebeard's attention span at this second. Smiling, Whitebeard cherished the last time as he knew he wouldn't hear any of those sounds again. _

_"_Just this once,_" Whitebeard thought as he tightened the grip on his weapon. "_Just this once I'll let myself give into anger._"_

_He held his fist out towards the execution platform Blackbeard and his entire crew were standing on. Summoning his strength, he sent a massive shockwave flying through the air towards the wooden frames holding them up._

_The wood splintered and gave way easily, letting gravity take over as the platform came tumbling down, along with Blackbeard and all of his crew. Van Auger was able to get a bead on Whitebeard and fired a quick sniper shot before he fell down completely. The shot was a success as it struck Whitebeard right through his chest._

_A little blood came out of The World's Strongest Man's mouth, but other than that, Whitebeard could handle it. What was a gunshot, anyway, to a man who had encountered so many battles and Devil Fruit users all of his life? _

_Whitebeard quickly turned around to the remaining pirates who were still on the island, mainly Marco and a few other stragglers. _

_"Marco!" he yelled through all of the blood, "I'm ordering you to get everyone off of this island! Get in your ships and put as many leagues away from this island as you can. I'm trusting you as one of my oldest and strongest sons to take command; from this point forward, you are the new captain of the Whitebeard Pirates!"_

_"No Pops!" Marco screamed back. "Come back with us. We can always attack again later!"_

_"I GAVE YOU AN ORDER!" he shouted back. Lowering his voice again, he continued, "Be sure to give Ace the proper burial he deserves. Oh, and…make sure you protect Straw Hat Luffy from now on. He was the boy Ace sacrificed his life to save; can't have him dying on us anytime soon now can we?"_

_Tears were welling up in Marco's eyes as he simply shouted back, "No, we can't Captain!"_

_"Now go…my foolish sons…" replied Whitebeard, tears flowing from his eyes as well._

_Everyone was retreating now, following Whitebeard's orders. Marco stood there for a second, and then gave his final words to his Captain. "We love you Pops!"_

_"I know you do," he said, wiping his eyes and turning his back on them and towards the enemy. "Now go!"_

_Marco grabbed hold of Ace as his arms turned into phoenix wings and flew away towards one of the only ships available. He landed close to Jimbei, who was still holding an unconscious Luffy._

_"So this is how it ends, huh?" he asked._

_Marco began to walk past him, not even looking at him. "No, this is only the beginning. Just make sure Luffy is safe; Captain's orders."_

_"Aye-Aye, Captain Marco," was all Jimbei said before hopping onto one of the retreating ships, taking Luffy away with him._

_Blackbeard and his entire crew were on their feet at this point. A clearly angered Blackbeard stared at Whitebeard intently and yelled, "You're gonna die for this old man! Get ready to feel my power."_

_"Gurarararara," Whitebeard chuckled as he readied his bisento. "Try it if you can brat."_

_Before any strike could be made on both sides, a massive fist of lava erupted from the floor right towards the lone attacker. It appeared right in front of him and barely skimmed him._

_"WHITEBEARD!" a bloodied Admiral Akainu yelled as he emerged from the fissure he fell in a lava-like mass. _

_"Still alive, eh, Magma-Brat?"_

_Akainu shot several lava fists towards Whitebeard yelling, "I WON'T LET YOU WIN!"_

_"Ice Age!"_

_Before any of Akainu's attacks could reach, a massive amount of ice shot out and froze over all of his lava fists. Admiral Aokiji landed close by, much to Akainu's chagrin._

_"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked to the stone-faced Aokiji._

_"Stand down Akainu!" Fleet-Admiral Sengoku yelled from his spot in the back. He turned towards the still seething Blackbeard and said, "I say we let our newest interruption take care of the problem. What do you think?"_

_Blackbeard didn't need anyone to tell him what to do as he simply responded by sprinting towards Whitebeard; Aokiji and Akainu jumped back, aware of what was about to take place._

_"It's too late Sengoku," Whitebeard said. "I've already resigned my life, but I'm taking all of you and this island with me."_

_With that, the entire earth began to shake beneath them. Waves shot up as more buildings collapsed. "He's tearing the island apart!" Sengoku yelled. "Take care of him now Blackbeard!"_

_"Fufufufufufufu! This is a riot!" Donquixote Doflamingo chuckled. _

_"LET THE NEW AGE COME!" Whitebeard triumphantly yelled as the earth began to crack beneath the entire island._

_Before he could finish, however, Blackbeard was close enough to hold his hand out yelling, "Black Vortex!"_

_Gravity interrupted Whitebeard's attack as he flew helplessly towards Blackbeard. Laughing, Blackbeard grabbed hold of Whitebeard, cutting off the powers of his Tremor-Tremor Fruit and stopping the earthquakes from happening._

_"What?"_

_"Zehahaha, bet you didn't expect this one, eh, old man?" he laughed. "I ate the Dark-Dark Fruit, which gives me the power to cancel out any type of devil fruit I touch!"_

_"Fool!" Whitebeard said with surprising vigor. "Just because you cut off my devil fruit power doesn't mean I'm out of the fight."_

_Before Blackbeard could even respond, Whitebeard slashed him across the chest with his bisento. Grunting, Blackbeard temporarily let go of Whitebeard, and he took that chance to send shockwaves right at Blackbeard, sending him flying several feet back. Blackbeard's men acted quickly as Van Auger fired another shot that hit Whitebeard in the chest and Shiryu appeared behind him and stabbed him in the back with his sword. _

_Despite this, Whitebeard continued to rock the island with his earthquakes. Blood flowing from every wound, his bisento suddenly became heavy, and he dropped it. More buildings continued to crack and fall as more rifts were formed on the ground._

_"STOP HIM! THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE THE ISLAND IS TO KILL HIM!" shouted a desperate Sengoku. _

_Blackbeard was back up and he opened a dark hole behind him. "Shiryu, get out of the way!"_

_He obliged as a massive amount of debris flew towards him. "Liberation!" Blackbeard yelled._

_All of the debris flew at Whitebeard and most of it hit him; it hit him with such a force that he was flung back several feet. Despite this, the earthquakes still continued. _

_Sengoku quickly ran towards Whitebeard, and, picking up his bisento, went to finish the job. Whitebeard was on his back staring up at the beautiful sky. His chest slowly heaving up and down as his last breath drew near. He was Sengoku stop right next to him and hold his own bisento up with the blade pointed towards his chest._

_"You can't stop…the new era…" Whitebeard smiled through all the blood. "Soon…there will be more youngsters…and you'll have far more to worry about…"_

_"That may be," panted Sengoku. "But one thing is for sure; with your death the age of Roger dies completely!"_

_He brought the bisento down on him with quick efficiency._

_The earthquakes and tremors suddenly stopped. Whitebeard was dead, and dying with him was the last of the old era. Although they would never know about it, at the point in which Whitebeard drew his last breath, all of the pirates involved in the battle felt a shiver run down their spine._

_The island held its ground, but it was still damaged beyond repair. Sengoku breathed a sigh of relief as he turned away from the massive corpse that was once Whitebeard and back towards all of the marines and Shichibukai. _

_"I want this mess cleaned up right away…" he said breathlessly, passing by Akainu and Aokiji._

_The battle was over, and the victors were the marines. Little did they know, however, that a far worse threat was looming on the horizons. _

Meanwhile, Monkey D. Luffy awoke from his sleep

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Death of a hero, birth of a new generation...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	3. The Bloodbound Ties of Family and Hatred

In the aftermath of the Whitebeard War, Luffy awakes...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**3: The Blood-Bound Ties of Family and Hatred**

The dream would play over and over again in Monkey D. Luffy's mind.

The Admiral (Akainu, but unnamed in the dream at this point as Luffy didn't know for sure who he was) prepared a fist made of lava and smiles at the brothers.

_"Pirate King Gold Roger, Revolutionary Dragon! Their sons actually became brothers, how terrifying! Just your blood alone has been shaped into a huge sin! Even if I let someone else get away, I will not let the two of you go!"_

Luffy wasn't able to move; he had reached his limit. Ivankov's injection of hormones—as helpful as it was—had run its course. What was scarier to him, however, was that Ace had gotten burned. The Admiral was apparently a logia-type devil fruit user being able to control lava, and while Ace was also a logia fruit user, his powers of plain fire were useless against lava, as lava had the ability to smother even fire, and therefore burn it.

_"Take a good look,"_ the Admiral said to Ace, looking at Luffy with a malicious twinkle in his eye.

_"Hey! Wait!"_ Ace yelled as he knew what the Admiral was going to do.

Before Luffy knew it, the Admiral was rushing towards him, the lava on his fist cocked back and ready to strike. Luffy, normally ready for such surprises and attacks, could do nothing, only sit on his knees and watch with a helplessness reflecting in his eyes.

_"Luffy!"_

That was when the snap decision was made. The decision that would change everyone's life forever.

Ace had thrown himself between Luffy and the Admiral, and, despite being a logia, took the brunt of the Admiral's lava fist. Luffy was saved, but Ace was now the one who was in trouble. After all of that trouble everyone went through, the breakout of Impel Down, Whitebeard showing up, and the sacrifice of dozens of pirates, Ace stood there now. A fiery fist straight through his chest; he could only close his eyes and cough out blood now.

_"Eh…" _was all Luffy could bring himself to utter.

_"HE GOT ACE! EVERYONE STOP AKAINU!"_ he could hear pirates yelling all over.

Akainu (as Luffy heard his name now) pulled his fist out of Fire Fist Ace's chest, as said pirate fell to his knees in pain. Not even the barrage of explosions of gunfire could stop Akainu, as he simply let the attacks hit him, and he was able to reform. More helpless cries came from the pirates who now realized they were powerless to stop this Admiral.

_"It would appear that you have life in you yet,"_ Akainu grimaced, as he formed another fist of lava and cocked it back, preparing to finish Ace off for good.

Finally, Luffy found the strength to muster a word, yet even the word itself could do nothing to stop the determined enemy in front of him. _"Stop!"_

_"I will allow no more of this!"_

Jimbei, First Son of the Sea, and former Shicibukai, thankfully appeared on the scene and blocked Akainu's fist (although it still hurt him quite a bit). Every pirate was grateful that Jimbei was quick, but Akainu only saw it as a nuisance, as he stared intently at Jimbei.

_"I suggest you put an end to your attempts to buy time, Jimbei. As a former Shichibukai, you should be all too familiar with the power I wield."_

Jimbei stood his ground and locked eyes with Akainu, saying in his most commanding voice, _"If by tearing this body apart I can delay you in the slightest, then I am content!"_

Akainu cursed Jimbei's interference and prepared to counter attack, preparing two lava fists to attack with. Before he could get an attack off, however, Whitebeard Commanders Marco and Vista arrived on the scene. Using the powers of their haki, they were able to temporarily cancel out Akainu's logia powers and strike him.

_"Ahhhh! This is getting irritating! Haki users now? Can't you see that it's too late for Fire Fist?!"_

Ace, saved from his immediate death, collapsed onto Luffy and rested his head on his shoulder. Luffy, now able to move, put his back on Ace while shouting his name. He felt something warm and drew his hand back, it was blood from the wound Ace had just received; the hole in Ace's chest was severe, and even Luffy was starting to lose all hope.

_"I-I'm sorry…Luffy…"_

_"Ace! We've gotta hurry and treat your—" Luffy started shouted desperately._

_"I'm sorry I couldn't let you save me properly…forgive me…"_

_"What are you talking about?! Don't stay stupid things like that!" Luffy yelled, now somewhat delirious from the shock of it all._

_"It's no good…I can tell when my own end has come…He's burned up my insides…I'm not coming back from this, so Luffy, listen up…"_

Luffy, however, refused to accept the truth as he continued to deny what he was realizing was the inevitable. _"What are you talking about…? Ace…are you going to die?"_

_"Yeah…you know…if it weren't for the Sabo thing…and having a little brother like you to look out for…I would never have…even wanted to live…" Ace continued, his breath getting slower and slower._

Making his voice a little louder, Ace began to address everyone within earshot._ "Old man…all of you guys…and…Luffy…even though I've been good for nothing my whole life…even though I carry the blood of a demon within me…you guys stilled loved me…thank you so much…!"_

With that, his vivre card burnt into nothing. He slipped from Luffy's grip and fell down next to him on the floor, a smile present on his face.

_"Ace…?" _Luffy asked, not quite processing what has just happened.

One look, however, and he could tell that Portgaz D. Ace, also known by his moniker as Fire Fist Ace, was dead. Something within Luffy at that moment snapped. He had spent all of this time, using all of his strength and will power to make it to Marineford and save his captured brother, yet here he lay dead, right at Luffy's feet. It had become clear that Straw Hat Luffy had failed.

Unable to process this, Luffy entered a state of despair, and blocked everything else out. Within seconds, Luffy himself had blacked out, and the dream had taken place.

**— — —**

Luffy awoke with a cold sweat and shot himself upright in his bed. Panting, he looked around, only darkness was surrounding him. His heart-rate started to go down again, and his breathing returned to normal. He immediately noticed that he was covered up in bandages and his body felt like shit; his beloved straw hat was right next to his bed. Then, the memories struck him like a ton of bricks. The fight, Ace's death, everything.

Falling back onto his bed, Luffy's eyes began to tear up. Ace was dead, there was no doubt about it; his dreams confirmed it. "Ace…" he sniffled through his sobs. "I'm truly sorry…can you ever forgive me…?"

No answer came to him, only darkness. The only immediate answer he got was that of his own body, reacting in pain to all of the doping he did to himself. He just now only realized the severity of his wounds, as he wasn't even able to lift up any part of his body; the pain was simply too much.

He lied there awake for several minutes, staring only at the ceiling above him. He was on a ship, that was clear enough. He could also hear footsteps upstairs, meaning he was not alone and he did not know where he was going. He was able to piece together that he had been carried away after he blacked out. He was willing to bet his straw hat that Jimbei was on this ship; he always felt like he needed to protect Luffy no matter what the circumstances, and this certainly wasn't any different.

He finally decided to go see what was going on upstairs. This, however, turned out to be no easy feat. Struggling, he grabbed the table that held his straw hat next to him and willfully pulled himself closer to it. It caused an excruciating amount of pain, but Luffy kept at it, slowly but surely. He stopped when he was close to the end, put on his straw hat, and gave himself one final pull towards the table. This resulted in Luffy falling off of the bed with a dull thud. The pain was amplified to a new degree, as Luffy even let out a small cry of pain.

Sucking it up, Luffy rolled onto his stomach and planted his hands firmly on the ground beneath him. Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself up long enough until he was on his knees. Then, taking another deep breath, he forced his legs to move, and before he knew it, he was on his feet (albeit it still hurt quite a bit).

He took it one step at a time, going painfully up each step at a time. Slowly and meticulously he rose, until he finally reached the door at the top of the stairs. Putting his hand on the door knob, he exhaled a large amount of air, and opened it.

Outside, light immediately came into Luffy's vision, and thinking with a moment of disgust, that it was Admiral Kizaru trying to attack him. His vision adjusted quickly, however, as he saw a large amount of pirates running around on the deck, doing various things. While this would normally not bother Luffy, he couldn't help but notice the mood of the entire ship; it was downright depressing.

There were only three pirates he recognized: Jimbei Ivankov, and Inazuma. Jimbei was the first to notice Luffy, as he quickly ran over to him saying, "Luffy, what are you doing? You should be in your bed right now resting; the damage you sustained is more severe than you think it is."

"It's alright, Jimbei, really," Luffy said, knocking Jimbei's hand away.

"Vhat?! Straw-Boy is up and running?!" Luffy heard an all-too-familiar voice say.

Emporio Ivankov ran towards him with a concerned look on his face. "It is far too early for you to be out of bed!" he said, basically repeating what Jimbei said. "Do not underestimate the power of the hormones I gave you, and the side-effects it has had upon your body."

"I'll worry about that later," was all Luffy replied with. "Right now, I need to talk to you both; immediately."

"Very vell," Ivankov stated, "but I must insist vat ve talk in your room vhile you are resting."

Sighing, Luffy looked back at the stairs he just took forever to climb up. Finally, he just said: "Fine…"

**— — —**

The darkness was now gone, a plethora of candles were now lit to ward it away. Around halfway down the stairs, Luffy stopped, as his pain was evident. Jimbei took it upon himself to carry Luffy down the rest of the way and put him back in his bed. Now, all three sat by, discussing what to do next.

"Look, Straw-Boy," Ivankov started, "I hope you understand vat I cannot give you any more hormones; it vould cause you to die."

"I understand Ivankov," Luffy replied. "That's not what I want to talk about."

Jimbei, sensing the tension, finally blurted out, "Look, Luffy, we're all deeply affected by the death of Ace; you have to know we all tried our best to stop—"

"That's okay Jimbei," cut off Luffy, looking down at the bed. "I don't…want to talk about that either…"

"Then vhat is it you vant to talk about?"

Luffy turned back towards the two of them and smiled, saying, "I want you to take me back to Sabaody Archipelago. There, I'll wait for all of my crewmates until they return."

Both Ivankov and Jimbei were somewhat surprised by the topic Luffy picked to talk about, but they decided not to push it. "Very vell," Ivankov said. "That's vhere Jimbei vas heading anyvay. Me and Inazuma have talked to your father in the New Vorld and he has told us vhat to do next. So ve are going to drop off Jimbei and you and be on our vay."

"While I am going back to Fishman Island," Jimbei finished.

"And luckily, Sabaody isn't that far from Marineford," Ivankov said. "Ve should get there in no time. So no vorries Straw-Boy; I want you to rest and heal now, it will take a lot of time to heal all of your vounds, and some effects they had on your body may be permanent."

Luffy smiled again. "Thanks guys, that's all I wanted to talk to you about, and I will rest, don't worry."

"Alright," Jimbei said, standing up. "Then we'll take our leave. Get some rest Luffy."

Both men left Luffy's room in silence, leaving him to be alone with his own thoughts.

— — —

"Why hello there Luffy!" Duval stated as soon as he saw Luffy board the _Thousand Sunny_. "What's that? I'm handsome? Why I know that. What took you so long to get back? Me and the Rosy Life Riders got awful tired of waiting for you."

"Sorry about taking so long Duval," Luffy said, walking towards him, "but we kinda got…held up."

It took them about a day to land on Sabaody Archipelago, and Jimbei set off as soon as they docked the ship, saying that he was fine from here on out. Ivankov and Inazuma then went to Luffy's ship, the _Thousand Sunny_, and dropped him off, wishing

_(vishing)_

him a safe recovery and journey.

"You can go now, thanks for all of your help," Luffy stated solemnly.

"Well, what happened to you and your crew? I'm not leaving until you tell me everything that happened and kept you up," Duval insisted.

Luffy only looked at him with a serious look in his eye for Duval to get the message.

"R-Right…" he continued. "Well, you're w-welcome, I guess. Be sure to cuh-call us if you need any more assistance."

He and the Rosy Life Riders quickly got on their flying fish and sped away, thankful to be away from the clearly upset Luffy.

Sighing, Luffy went into his own room in the _Thousand Sunny_, locked the door, and had himself a good cry.

* * *

It's going to take some time for the wounds to heal...

**Please Review!**


	4. A Shattered Companionship

Zoro and Perona get a Mysterious Visitor. Enjoy!

**I have decided that in order to speed up the story, I will probably be updating twice a week now. I will still be updating every Satuday, but now I'm going to update in the middle of the week as well. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**4: A Shattered Companionship**

Like most cities, Shikkearu Kingdom didn't grow with a set plan. It just expanded as the city got more and more populated. Indeed, it started out relatively small, as a tiny town in the middle of Kuraigana Island. A handful of people helped with its creation, and among these men and women one stood out in particular; Zandei Bakora.

Being farmers was no easy feat, especially on this island. Kuraigana Island was by no means a technological place, and as such, they relied heavily on the old fashioned ways of farming. When one is a farmer, only two things become an absolute essential for survival: land and water. It was the former of the two that a dispute started over; some might say it even turned bloody over it.

Large portions of land were being bought out and a rapid pace by the more successful farmers, and when they bought another farmers land, they quickly employed them for business. Killing two birds with one stone, some might say, but in the end it always ended with profit for the land buyer.

A man by the name of Wilfred Bocht had the most land out of all of the wealthy farmers, and as such, he had the most workers under him. For obvious reasons, tensions rose between him and the poor farmers working under him. Given enough time and enough angry people, rebellion is bound to happen, and happen it did.

The rebellion didn't last long, and to the unsuspecting eye, one could barely call it a rebellion at all. Zandei Bakora—a poor but strong farmer—led the rebellion, but it only ended in failure. Wilfred was not ignorant to the complaints of the farmers, and was prepared when it happened. It only took twenty hired soldiers to silence the rebellion once and for all.

Despite being a failure, it did lead to Zandei inspiring those who were as disgruntled as him to leave their land and start anew. Only around a dozen followed him, and he led them to the spot that would eventually be known as Shikkearu Kingdom.

Even though he was a farmer, Zandei dabbled in his spare time with architecture. He had been fascinated with it since he was a little boy, and although he wasn't the worlds best, he was good enough for a dozen farmers wanting to start over. He became the architect, foreman, and overall leader of this new town.

It grew slowly at first, and as expected, farming was how it survived, but slowly and surely it began to rise in other regards. People became tailors, blacksmiths, and proprietors of restaurants. People soon caught wind of this new growing city and decided to join as well, adding even more artisans to the mix.

Now no longer the only architect, Zandei laid out the plans to build stone structures and ordered the other architects to do it. It was a success, and before anyone knew it, Shikkearu had nearly tripled in size.

Soon it became necessary for this new city to have a leader, and Zandei was obviously chosen. He took it graciously and promised the citizens that he would rule with kindness and dignity. He immediately issued a castle to be build, along with stone walls around the city's borders so it could be protected from any kind of attack.

Around a year after Zandei came to power, it became clear to the people that he was not looking out for their best interests. He taxed unnecessarily, punished people harshly, and made ridiculous laws that no one should have to follow. Soon enough people got disgruntled and stood together under one banner and once again the island of Kuraigana had a rebellion. Despite Zandei being prepared like Wilfred, there were far more people and a civil war broke out within the city.

People to this day still argue which side was the winner, but the answer is that it doesn't really matter. Regardless of who won, the city was utterly destroyed, and the winners left the once popular thriving city to itself in ruins.

Roronoa Zoro, however, could care less about how the kingdom he wound up in got destroyed; he just cared that it was destroyed and abandoned by the time he got there. His wounds from his fight with Kuma weren't life-threatening anymore, but they still hurt like hell. He supposed he should thank Perona for her bandaging (even if it was a bit extreme), but his pride would never allow it.

Their relationship—despite being former enemies—has grown, however. Although it took a bit of persuading on Zoro's part, Perona gave him back his three swords. Zoro never intended to harm her in the first place; she was probably the best chance he had at leaving this island and getting back to Sabaody Archipelago so he can meet up with his crew again.

After a few days, Zoro was good to start walking again, and, despite Perona's protests, he began to train again. Truth be told, Zoro was still somewhat sour after his defeat at Sabaody and hated the thought of his entire crew having to wait for him to return. He had to get all of this frustration out somehow, and training seemed to be the best way to do it.

Fed up with Zoro's stupid attempts to get better (he claimed that working out would make him heal faster), Perona suggested they go walking through the ruins of Shikkearu Kingdom and see what they can find. Zoro reluctantly agreed, probably because he didn't want to hear her protests over and over again.

So grabbing his three swords in case of an attack,

_("Why are you bringing your swords? This place has been long since abandoned.")_

he and Perona set out. Most of it, much to Perona's chagrin, was only rubble of abandoned stonework. Zoro had to put up constantly with her complaining of the lack of cuteness this kingdom has; Zoro just tuned it out as he looked around idly with a somewhat bored expression on his face; he was already regretting going with her.

After walking by a ruined tavern and what looked to be like a small chapel, they stumbled across a very large wooden cross (ironically that being the first thing Zandei built in the kingdom). They both subconsciously wondered why that stayed up while everything around it was destroyed, but didn't think much on it after that.

They decided to take a quick break and rest under the cross for shade and eat some lunch that Perona (well, her ghosts actually) made. While Perona found the lunch to be quite good, Zoro felt like he needed some strong alcohol to force the food down (although he would never tell her on account that he would get yelled at).

After their short break, they continued along their way. By this point Zoro was getting very uninterested in looking at rubble for so long and was about to turn back. He looked overhead and saw Perona floating ("_How does she do that?_" Zoro wondered) and was about to tell her that he was going to go back and train.

Then he appeared.

Zoro heard some noise overhead as he looked up at the hill across from him and saw another man there. Although it wasn't the man that made him on edge, it was the fact that he had a sword at his side.

"Perona get down!" he immediately yelled to his companion, who failed to notice the swordsman up to this point.

Obliging, she landed down right next to Zoro.

"Well, well, well," the swordsman said, "someone is cautious aren't they?"

"Who the hell are you?!" Zoro found himself yelling very angrily.

Sighing, the man scratched the back of his head. He looked to be in his mid-to-late forties and was around five-ten. He wore a blue and white cap (similar to a marine cap), and wore a black suit with silver pinstripes going down it vertically with matching dress pants; the suit-jacket was open and revealed a blue dress shirt and a black tie. He had the face of a grizzled veteran with marks lined deeply in his forehead and by his eyes, and his most prominent feature was a scar in the shape of a "t", going down across his left eye vertically, and then going across the bridge of his nose horizontally. Even more menacing still, was the fact that he had a nodachi strapped to the side of his waist.

"Relax partner," he said. "My name's Benjamin McAllister, and don't you worry, I'm not after you; I'm after her."

He pointed to Perona.

"Me?" she asked. "Why?"

"Although I can't go into detail, all I can say is that I've been ordered to capture you and bring you in."

"What for?" she almost yelled.

"Sorry partner, that's classified," he smiled. "Now if you could just come quietly, this could all be—"

"Like hell I'd go with you!" she said yelling. In an instant she summoned two of her ghosts. "Negative Hollow!" she yelled, sending them after Benjamin.

The swordsman only smiled as he quickly said, "Soru!" and disappeared from his spot.

"The hell?!" Zoro said, but froze when he felt the sheath of Benjamin's nodachi on his shoulder. Zoro suddenly realized he was behind him.

"You know partner, normally with someone with only this amount of power they'd send someone much weaker, but he specifically sent me because he knew that you'd be with her."

"He?!" Zoro said, quickly drawing Wado Ichimonji and attempting to strike at the enemy.

"Soru," he said and disappeared again.

He was suddenly above both Zoro and Peron and lifted his leg up high. "Rankyaku!" he said while bringing his leg down with a massive force.

Air blades quickly flew down in-between the two, forcing them apart. Benjamin reacted quickly and appeared in front of Perona. Perona hopped away and said, "Special Hollow!" as three large ghosts flew at Benjamin.

"Geppou!" he quickly said, jumping into the air to avoid the ghosts that exploded where he once was.

When he landed, Zoro was on him with all three of his swords. "Oni…" he started.

"Tekkai."

"…Giri!" he finished, striking Benjamin.

Unfortunately, he appeared unharmed as he only pointed his index finger at Zoro and said, "Shigan!"

With that, he pierced Zoro right in his shoulder with only his finger. Zoro drew back and said, "You use the same moves as those from CP9, how is that possible?"

"It's simple when you were with the marines," smiled Benjamin. "But that's a story for another day partner. For now, I have a mission to do. Soru!"

With that, he disappeared and reappeared behind Perona. Before she could react, Benjamin pulled out a pair of seastone cuffs, and clasped them on Perona's wrist. With that, all of her powers drained as she fell to the floor weakly.

He picked her up and heaved her onto his shoulder and disappeared back on the top of the mountain. "Wait damn it!" Zoro yelled. "Get back down here and fight!"

"I don't think I'll take you up on that offer," replied Benjamin with a smirk. "Although I would like nothing better than to use my sword on you, I have a mission to fulfill. I do think, however, we shall meet again in the New World. For now though, you'll have to just accept this as a loss and move on. Until next time, partner."

"Give Perona back!" he yelled, beginning to run towards the hill McAllister was on.

"Soru!" he said, and with that, he was gone.

Zoro ran to the top of the hill and looked around desperately. Knowing he couldn't just abandon Perona, he ran as fast as he could to the ocean he could see from far away.

He eventually stopped on an abandoned dock and saw that there were no boats around. Concluding that Benjamin was gone, Zoro decided he needed to chase him by ship. Sighing, he sat down and waited for a ship to pass.

Within an hour, he had successfully flagged down a ship and got aboard.

* * *

Zoro's in pursuit...

**Please Review!**


	5. In Case I do not Survive

Sanji tries to adjust to his new situation. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**5: In Case I do not Survive**

Black Leg Sanji was truly in hell.

That god damn bear-looking-bucket-hat-wearing-bible-carrying-unnaturally-proportioned-paw-handed-sneaky-cowardly-Shichibukai-powered-robotic-piece-of-shit actually had the stones to send Black Leg Sanji—_the_ Black Leg Sanji, woman-lover extraordinaire—to Momoiro Island; more specifically the Kamabakka Kingdom of Momoiro Island. An island of okamas just like that damned Mr. 2 that Sanji fought long ago in Alabasta. Of all the places for that glasses-wearing-marine-loving bastard to send Sanji, it had to be an island of okamas. For the woman-loving Sanji to be on an island of _okamas_ made him filled with so much fear he was sure to have a heart attack; and it was all thanks to that more-than-one-bear-eared son of a bitch!

_(but I digress)_

Sanji landed relatively unharmed. It seemed strange to him that despite flying for three days and landing on an island, he would be unharmed by such a thing. It was true, however, that the Straw Hat Cook did not feel hunger or thirst (although he did sleep quite a lot), and he landed on a soft bubble in the shape of a massive bear paw. Sanji had a passing thought that it was nice of that Shichibukai to make sure he was completely unharmed when he landed, but then he remembered that it was him who caused all of the injuries he had sustained in the first place, and anger quickly flooded back into him. I mean, for that shaggy-haired-massive-son-of-a-bitch to actually…

_(one ad homonym attack later)_

The first thing Sanji did was to inspect his surroundings, and unfortunately, it was not too his likings whatsoever. For Sanji, it just seemed too…_cute._ Everything—and that meant everything—was pink. There was pink grass, pink mountains, pink trees, and Sanji was even sure that there was a pink tinge in the sky.

If the assault of pink wasn't enough to make Sanji puke, the sheer cuteness of the rest of it was sure to. All of the animals looked as cute as a plushy (and strangely enough looked like they had human faces). Combine this with heart-shaped mountains and it was enough to make a young girl squeal and shout "Kawaii!" at the top of her lungs.

For Sanji, however, this was not kawaii. The only positive side to this (as Sanji always looked at the positive), is that he decided it must be an island full of cute girls, as only cute girls would be able to bear with such things.

He couldn't be more wrong, as he would soon find out.

It started out as a small noise, something Sanji wouldn't even find interesting, but then it grew. After hearing rustling in the bushes, Sanji turned around quickly only to see a small shadow running. Brushing that off, he continued on his walk. The first thing he decided was that he needed to know what island he was one. Then, if he could procure a ship, he would be able to go back to Sabaody where no doubt his crew was waiting, minus the Marimo and Brook (Sanji was positive Brook could find his way back, but as for Zoro, he wasn't so sure…).

He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice that there was more noise behind him. It appeared as though more and more of the inhabitants of the island were sneaking up on the newbie. Naturally the noise got louder, and Sanji noticed. Feeling compelled, he turned around quickly saying, "Who's there?!"

The inhabitants, however, were quick on their feet and were able to dive into the brush and shrubbery on the sides of them before Sanji could get a good look at them. Unfortunately, he wasn't fooled by this spectacle.

With a vein popping out of his head, he pointed his finger at their direction and said, "You're not fooling anyone, so you might as well just come out!"

"_Weeeeeeeelcooooomeeeee!_" was their eerie reply.

Feeling a bit unnerved, Sanji persisted. "Come on out!"

This time, they complied as they all filed out of the brush in a single-file line. Their response, however, was the same.

"_Weeeeeeeelcooooomeeeee!_"

What Sanji saw now was a massive group of large, butch okamas. He felt his legs quiver as his adrenaline told him it was either fight or flight. He chose flight, as he turned around as fast as possible and sprinted away.

Smiling, the okamas chased after him.

"_Come back!_"

"_You're like us aren't you?_"

"Like hell I'm like you!" Sanji yelled back, still not stopping.

"_Stop! Come back!_"

"Shut up! Don't follow me!"

"_Welcome to the Kamabakka Kingdom!_" they yelled, and that was enough to make Sanji resolve to leave this island as soon as possible.

He hung a quick left and dived as quickly as possible into the nearest foliage. Now on his hands and knees, he desperately army-crawled through all of the brush in order to throw off their trail. It worked as he heard the okamas confused as to where he was. Sighing, Sanji was able to crawl into a forest and rest.

Sighing, Sanji took out a cigarette and lit it, desperate to calm himself down.

— — —

_From the Journal of Sanji titled: In Case I do not Survive_

_Day 1_

Dear Nami and Robin,

Are you two somewhere safe? I wish I could say the same. Me, well, I'm currently in hell. I can't get into details, but there's a distinct possibility that I won't survive. So, to document my struggle, I've decided to put together a journal (not a diary) to let you all know what might have become of me.

It's called the Kamabakka Kingdom, on who-gives-a-shit-island, because this island in particular is full of okamas (in case you don't know, an okama is a man dressed like a woman). They have attempted to capture me a few times now, and it doesn't look like they're making any attempt to stop. I have been forced to move around several times now. Luckily I have survived off of the fruits (all pink-colored) that are in the forest. Hopefully with time, I may be able to actually cook a meal, but for now, looks like it's life on the run for me.

_Things to know in case I don't survive:_ One time while I was working at Baratie, I stole Chef Zeff's chef hat and wore it for a few hours pretending I was in charge. He found out and kicked me in the throat with his peg leg.

_Day 2_

I've eluded capture for another day. Haven't gotten a solid night sleep, only a few naps here and there. It appears to be their custom to hunt down any man that doesn't look like an okama on this island and transform him into one. Haven't been able to cook a real meal yet and haven't slept anywhere comfortable for a while. I feel like my strength is fading, but every time I think of you two, I feel a fresh surge of energy going through me. I can't write anymore because I hear them hunting, but know that I'm always thinking of you two.

_Things to know in case I don't survive:_ More than once, in order to show Luffy a lesson, I often put ingredients that might make him sick in his food. Of course I wouldn't do that for you two; I only serve you the best.

_Day 4_

Well, I was captured.

I have to give those okamas credit for persistance, as they didn't stop for two whole nights. Finally unable to summon anymore strength, they found me collapsed on the floor due to hunger, dehydration, and lack of sleep. Fortunately, they do not mean to kill me. They were able to heal some of my wounds, but unfortunately, they made me one of them as I had predicted. While I cannot take off the dress and make up (in fear that they actually might kill me), I have to admit that it's not as bad as I thought. Granted my pride is now damaged, but I think I'll be able to survive.

Luckily they speak my language, and they actually have food that tastes pretty good. I have to remember to ask one of their cooks one time for some of their recipes. Other than that, I am just sitting in a bed and waiting until they say I'm fully recovered.

_Things to know in case I don't survive: _A few times while the Marimo is sleeping out on the deck, I liked to pull pranks on him. They ranged from kicking him awake to drawing on his face without his knowledge.

_Day 5_

A little bit of good news and bad news today.

I am now fully healed and am moving around (although the dress makes it a bit difficult). Due to my new mobility, I have been able to converse with some of the local okamas. One in particular that goes by the name of Berta (I don't know if he was born with that name or chose it after he became an okama), who happens to be the one in charge of the kingdom right now, was a great source of information. Before I knew it, I spent hours talking with him about a wide array of topics.

I learned that this is the Momoiro Island, which would explain all of the pink everywhere, and that okamas had built this kingdom a long time ago to escape persecution led by the (Great) Empress Voliski. He was by far the most outspoken about his preference, and he was no stranger to getting persecuted for it.

While horrible things were done to him, he was able to inspire more okama to come out from hiding and embrace who they were as well. Eventually there were enough of them to set sail to this island and build their own kingdom. Naturally Voliski was put in charge and he was able to put this Kingdom on the map; a kingdom that is still thriving today (albeit it is currently without an Empress).

Now for the bad news.

The okama themselves have never felt the need to leave this island, and because of that, have never felt the need to build any kind of transportation devices by sea. In case you don't get what I'm saying, I currently have no way to leave this island. Now this bears two options.

1: I accept the truth and try to adjust to my new life.

2: I build a boat myself and set sail by myself in a direction I don't know…by myself.

Unfortunately number one is not an option, but I'm no Franky, nor can I ever be as great as you, Nami, in the art of navigating. With luck, I may be able to find some kind of okama builder or navigator. For now, however, it looks like I'm stuck here.

_Things to know in case I don't survive: _On several occasions I have found myself peeking into the showers while either of you two were in there. While they may not be my finest moments, I regret nothing.

— — —

Sanji just finished writing when he heard the door burst open. Berta came crashing in, hastily looked for Sanji, and said excitedly, "Sanji! You'll never believe what just happened?"

"What's that?" asked as slightly-confused Cook.

"He…he's returned!"

"Who has?"

Berta seemed a bit shocked at Sanji's ignorance, but explained anyways. "Why, Empress Emporio Ivankov, the Empress of this kingdom who was imprisoned at Impel Down for being a revolutionary!"

"What?!" Sanji said, his half-finished cigarette falling out of his mouth. "Take me to him now!"

Berta was just as excited as he happily responded, "Alright! Come on! Let's hurry up!"

It wasn't hard for them to know where to go, as almost everyone in the kingdom was going in one direction. They went to the beach where a massive ship was close by in the water. From there, Sanji could see a massive man on the tip of ship yelling.

"Hello! I have returned my children! Did you miss me?!" he yelled.

Sanji forced his way to the front and ran through the water, swimming rapidly towards the boat. He was able to claw his way up the side and collapsed on the deck. Unfortunately, he was greeted with several guns staring him in the face.

Ivankov noticed this and pointed at Sanji, asking, "Who the hell are you?!"

"Please, hear me out!" Sanji said, pleading, hoping the guns wouldn't go off. "I desperately need your help oh great Empress. I have been separated from my crew by some bastard named Kuma and—"

"Kuma?" Ivankov repeated. Thinking for a second, Ivankov asked, "Can you kindly tell me vat crew you vere a part of?"

"I was a part of the Straw Hat crew," he said desperately. "You probably haven't heard of me, but I bet you've heard of Straw Hat Luffy, our captain."

"Straw Boy eh?" Ivankov said, rubbing his chin. "Stand down men!" he ordered to the people pointing the guns at him.

"Follow me," Ivankov said, going towards one of the cabins on the ship. "I'm sure ve have a lot to discuss…"

* * *

Ivankov to the rescue?

**Please Review!**


	6. The Edge of Sanity

It begins...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**6: The Edge of Sanity**

He'd been walking for quite some time. As for how long, who knew? Certainly not Vendrix Confreski, the Disillusioned. He kept at his pace, slowly eating up the distance between himself and his target; his boots making a constant scraping noise on the rough dirt beneath his feet. A gentle arid breeze blew into Vendrix's face, but he saw it as only a minor annoyance and kept going at his rapid pace. On his left was desert, and on his right was desert, behind him was desert, and in front of him was desert…with a few scatterings of shrubs and cacti.

He was on the summer island of Boleo, an island deep within the Grand Line. Not quite into the New World yet, but close enough to give any pirates going there goose-bumps at how close they actually were.

Vendrix's boots continued to shuffle.

It was told in legend that Boleo was once a land of rich resources of all kinds: food, water, lumber, ex cetera, ex cetera. The people of Boleo had only one rule when they lived here: first come, first serve.

They abided by this rule, and cities grew. It was only a matter of time, however, before some piss-ant too big for his boots decided he wanted more, spoiling the fun for everyone else. Wars were started, resources were fought over, and lives were ultimately lost. Taking advantage of this, pirates—the scum that they are—took what they felt they deserved as well. Explosions were made, blood was spilled, and the rare Devil Fruit user poked their head in to see what all the fun was about. Before long, Boleo became nothing more than a poor country and everyone who had money shipped their asses out faster than they could say "fuck this place!"

That of course was a long time ago, and historians still argue whether the story is true or not, but Vendrix couldn't care less. As far as he was concerned, a desert was a desert; nothing more, and nothing less.

The breeze was at it again, blowing back Vendrix's unkempt shaggy hair. He looked to be in his late twenties, and was around five-eight. He wore a scattering of clothes, none of it matched and frankly he liked it that way. Boots from the snowy island of Igrea, pants from Yarei, shirts from Paqueria, a trench coat from the always raining island of Nirana; when it came to fashion, Vendrix was an equal opportunist. He carried a fair amount of weapons, most of which he made himself, the most prominent being a single-shot flintlock revolver (all the rage in the West Blue) tucked into the front of his pants, and an intricately designed bone-bladed knife, tucked into the back of his pants.

Vendrix was well known, well, only well known to a certain amount of people. Vendrix did what he wanted, and as such, had participated in quite a few interesting things in his day. A coup here, a revolution there, murder, kidnapping, arms dealing, hostage holding, name it and Vendrix has done it.

He often joined organizations that interested him. A few revolutionaries groups (the biggest being that of Dragon's), anarchists (the biggest being Baroque Works, although he was kicked out quickly for being unstable), and a few assassination contracts always kept Vendrix busy and on the move. He only did things that piqued his interest, and needless to say his newest endeavor had his interest piqued.

His boots continued to scrape against the hard dirt.

Ever since he was young, Vendrix had always been…different. Born on an island which Vendrix himself had already forgotten the name of, he was the seventh of his parent's twelve kids. They were poor growing up, but they did the best they could with what they had. His parents raised all of his siblings, him included, without favoritism and with the love and nurturing needed to create happy productive members of society. All of his brothers and sisters loved his parents for that.

He alone strayed from the norm.

His depravity started in his mind, and at an early age, he began to hear voices. They were small at first, but they grew in volume and numbers. Some were quite peaceful, while some were quite abrasive; some were quite funny, while some were quite cynical. They always came in and out and had this nasty habit of showing up at the worst possible times. They mostly told him to do things that were frowned upon by society, and although he never admitted it, Vendrix very much enjoyed doing them.

This behavior quickly got his parents concerned as they took him to any number of doctors to try and figure out what was wrong with him. Each and every time, however, they said the same things, intense schizophrenia and an advanced case of multiple-personality disorder.

His mother vehemently refused such accusations as she took him to everyone she knew, but always the results were the same. Something was wrong in Vendrix's head, and there was nothing they could do about it. This threw Vendrix's mother into a bouts of depression as she became increasingly anti-social.

It all came to a head when his mother and father got into a fight. While it was something small that would usually blow over, his mother wouldn't have it this day and with Vendrix watching, got the kitchen knife and used it on his father; he died with a struggle and a look of agony on his face.

Vendrix saw it all.

His mother, covered in blood, now walked over to him trying to soothe him, but due to her own clumsiness, tripped and fell on her own blade. She desperately tried to crawl towards Vendrix, the life fleeing out of her in an attempt to survive.

_("V-Vendrix…come here and…help Mommy…Vendrix…come here and…")_

She died a few seconds later; Vendrix didn't mind.

Packing his things and leaving his siblings to fend for themselves, Vendrix took off on the open road and began his quest. Spurred on by the voices in his head, he traveled all across the seas on pirate ships, cargo ships, passenger ships; you name a ship and Vendrix was probably on it.

He continued at his steady pace.

Now, however, he appeared on this island due to orders. A new report came in that his target was spotted around here and was highly sought after by the boss; why else would he send someone like Vendrix to go and take care of him.

So continuing his walk, Vendrix was slowly but surely closing the gap between himself and his target. Vendrix estimated he would reach him within the hour.

He was ordered not to kill the man, but he'd wait it out and see what the voices told him to do instead.

— — —

The Great Enel had grown tired of his current life. Sure he had control of all of his Fairy Vearth and hundreds of followers at his beck and call, but even that got tiresome to the God after a while. Feeling like he needed something new, Enel electrocuted all of his followers and left on his newly repaired ship Maxim.

Despite his destruction of Skypiea being a failure, he still had the ability to go down to the Vearth beneath the sky and see what he could do there. He had landed on the island known as Boleo, and had shown off his powers to the poor masses there. There, they revered him as a god and he has been happy. Soon enough, though, he would grow tired of this island and sink it to the bottom of the ocean.

He decided he wanted to be left alone from his followers for a while as he went for a walk in the depressingly barren wasteland. Looking at the scenery now, Enel decided he didn't want to stay here any longer on this depressing place. He would probably wait until night and then use his Advent of Thunder to…

Someone appeared in front of Enel.

Vendrix Confreski the Disillusioned had stopped at his pace, as his target had appeared right in front of him; lucky for him, unlucky for Enel.

"And who might you be?" the pseudo-god asked.

"Kikikikikikikikikiki," Vendrix chuckled in a light-hearted tone. Then suddenly he got dead serious as he said, "That doesn't matter. What does matter is that you just surrender before I take your fucking head off."

Enel nearly laughed at this statement, but kept his cool. "Funny, you think a little runt like you can beat me?"

"I'm well aware of your powers. You ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Unfortunately for you, we've been keeping tabs on every Devil Fruit user from here to the North Blue, and you're on the top of the list. So stop fucking around and just surrender."

Enel took this personally as a vein appeared on his forehead. Channeling his anger into his right fist, he pointed it at Vendrix quickly and yelled, "You'll pay the consequences for insulting God! 20 Million Volt Vari!"

A large blast of lightning shot out of Enel's hand and flew towards Vendrix quickly. Unfortunately, he was a bit too quick and side-stepped the entire thing. Vendrix took this as an act of war as he sped towards Enel and before he knew it, he was on the God. Striking fast, Vendrix shot his fist right towards Enel's abdomen, but he turned into lightning as Vendrix's arm shot right through him, burning his arm.

Enel took this opportunity to take out his staff and hit Vendrix square in the chin, sending him flying into the air; he landed on the ground with a dull thud a few feet away.

"If you know of my powers of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, sure you must know that it's pointless to hit me," Enel said in a serious tone.

"Kikikikikikikikikiki!" Vendrix hopped up lightly and landed on his feet. Blood was flowing out of his mouth from the blow and his arm looked a little charred, but he didn't seem bothered by it at all. "Of course I know about it, but it wouldn't be fun if I didn't get hit by it first now would it?"

A shiver went down Enel's spine as he readied his staff and was about to move.

"Too slow!" Vendrix said as he reached into his trench coat and pulled out two gas canisters.

He threw them quickly at Enel as they landed right by his feet. Before he could move, white smoke shot out and completely enveloped a large radius. Enel could tell using his mantra ability that Vendrix was in the smoke with him. He sensed he was right behind him, and he moved to strike.

Before he could, an explosive went off right underneath him.

He was completely unharmed of course, but it took him a few seconds to reconstitute himself again, and that was all Vendrix needed. As soon as he reformed, Vendrix was somehow above him. Before Enel could react, Vendrix put his hand on top of his head and leapt away; that was it.

"You'll pay for doing this!" said the angered Enel. He struck the top two drums with his staff and yelled, "60,000,000 Volt Julungul!"

A large electrical dragon flew at the still Vendrix. Before he could move, the dragon struck him and electrocuted him on the spot. Enel stood there victorious as he saw Vendrix collapse to the floor in a blackened mess.

"Yaaaahahahahaha! See what you get fool for trying to kill me. Me of all people! The Great God Ene—"

Enel felt a stabbing pain in the lower right side of his chest as blood spat out of his mouth. "I'm certainly lucky you don't change forms by instinct, otherwise it would be impossible to kill you."

Enel turned around and saw Vendrix standing there, a bloodied knife held in his hand.

"You! I just killed you! You're right over there!" He pointed to the charred body.

"You sure it's me?" was all he asked in return.

Enel turned around and saw that the charred body of "Vendrix" began to disappear into nothing. Feeling the anger rise in him, he turned around and yelled, "200 Million Volt Vari!"  
The blast struck Vendrix right in the chest, taking out a good chunk of him. Strangely enough, though, he seemed unfazed by this as he kept talking calmly.

"Give it up, you've already lost."

"You!" Enel said as he realized now what was going on. "What kind of Devil Fruit did you eat?"

The response came in the form of a gunshot wound to his chest from behind. Spitting out blood, Enel fell to his knees in pain. Behind him, he could hear Vendrix explain.

"Good eye. I ate the Mind-Mind Fruit. By simply touching someone's head, I can tap into their brain and make them think they see whatever I wish; you lost as soon as I touched your head Enel. Kikikikikikikiki!"

Enel felt himself going dark as his vision clouded over. Vendrix appeared right behind him with a pair of seastone cuffs in his hand. He quickly clasped them on Enel and with that, the Great God Enel was defeated. He collapsed from pain on the spot.

Vendrix laughed at his predicament as he picked up his body and began to walk back towards his ship.

"The voices are pretty dormant today, so I guess I'll let you live."

* * *

A New Enemy appears...

**Please Review!**


	7. Pact for Departure

Usopp and Heracles make a plan. Enjoy!

**I have been noticing that while this story is getting a massive amount of views every time I update, no one is favoriting/reviewing anymore. Case-in-point: Last update on Wednesday got me my most views in one day, around 170 or so. And while I'm not complaining about this at all (I assure you), I found it baffling that out of all of those people, only one reviewed. **

**Now I'm not complaining, and I in fact, am quite grateful so many people are reading my story, but I remind you that Reviews/Favorites are my motivation, and when no one does it, even despite the massive amount of views, I can't help but go into a bout of depression for a little bit, wondering if people really like my story or not. So once again, you don't have to favorite/review if you don't want to, but just know that if you do, I will be jumping with joy. =D**

**I've bored you long enough. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**7: Pact for Departure**

Usopp was fat.

This was an absolute truth. No matter how many times he tried to deny this fact—and it was a fact—Usopp could not escape the truth. He had over-indulged himself in the Forest of Gluttony, and Heracles regretted ever taking him there in the first place.

The island of Boin Archipelago—like most islands on the Grand Line—was incredibly dangerous. Heracles knew this truth well. He was reaching the older half of his life, and in his lifetime he had seen a many strange and curious things on this island; being born here and living here most of his life had helped him with that.

Living in the Greenstone Forest was like living in a battle. Every day something new tried to attack and eat you, and, given the ferociousness of some of the bugs and plants on this island, they were usually able to kill you if they tried hard enough.

Heracles himself was eight when he lost his father to a man-eating bug, and was only twelve when he lost his mother to a disease. This forest had only one main tribe, and they all tried to live within the confines of the "safety zone" as they called it. It was the men's job to hunt for food and to protect the tribe from attacks, while it was the women's job to train all of the children and teach them as much as they could about the island so they could grow up knowing what they were up against.

After losing his parents, Heracles decided he wanted to join the hunting party and become a productive member of the tribe. He was faced with several life and death situations, but he pulled through and gained the experience he needed; by the time he was of age, that of sixteen, to fully join the hunting party, he was already the leader. Under him they were able to discover places like the Forest of Gluttony and many other strange lands on the island that were unobtainable to all other parties before them.

This was not to say that Heracles has never left his island, however, because he has. Young fools always get itchy feet at some point in their life, and Heracles was no exception. He and several of his friends left the island one day when he was in his early-twenties to explore the world around them.

After spending a good amount of years on the sea, one could say that Heracles and his friends had made their own pirate crew simply known as the Stag Pirates. They gained a small reputation in the area, but they were not a barbarous pirate crew by any stretch of the imagination. Very rarely did his crew kill anyone or raid any kind of town; they were known by most as a peaceful kind of pirates, protecting the innocent folk of the islands they inhabited.

It was one day at sea when it all happened.

It happened without warning, and it happened fast. One day while the Stag Pirates were on their ship ready to go to the next island, pirates struck them. He was a little fuzzy on the memory, but Heracles could only remember one thing about who attacked them, and that their captain's name was Kaido. They put up a good fight, but they didn't stand a chance.

Heracles was the only one to survive.

It was either by luck or by the crews ignorance that Heracles was left alive. He was knocked out and bloodied most certainly, but they never bothered to check his pulse. The pirates plundered all they could from the ship and left it to drift into oblivion. Heracles would awake an hour later only to find his crew massacred. Destroyed, he set back to his home and has never since left.

Heracles vowed from that moment on that he would help any stranger he came across in any way he could; that's what he and his old crew did, and that's what his dead comrades would have wanted. So for Heracles to see Usopp become so fat, it made him want to fix that.

"Come on Usoppun!" he cheered to Usopp, who was currently doing sit-ups. "Just a few moreun!"

"Argh! I can't do anymore Heracles!" Usopp said through pants. "Can't we just stop for today?!"

"Of course notun!" Heracles replied. "I'm giving you the deluxun Boin Archipelago workout; with itun, you should be able to get back to your old self in a few daysun!"

The inhabitants of Greenstone Forest were obviously very much in shape (as evidenced by Heracles still being incredibly strong despite his age), and they were able to achieve this by instituting a very rigorous workout program designed for every inhabitant to undergo. Heracles went through it when he was a child, and ever since, he has been doing it once a month to stay in shape; and now he was passing it down to Usopp(un) to make sure he was returned to the shape he was in before he got here.

"I'm gonna die!" complained a very sweat Usopp.

Despite his complaints, the workout was doing its job. Heracles had been putting him through it the entire week, and already significant improvements were being seen. He had lost well over a hundred pounds and was losing more every day. This was also in part thanks to Heracles very strict diet of only the healthiest (albeit nasty tasting) plants the forest had to offer. This of course meant banning Usopp from the Forest of Gluttony, much to his chagrin. Indeed, Heracles was sure Usopp would be fit as a fiddle in only a few weeks time.

Meanwhile, Usopp continued to scream in agony.

— — —

At nights, they would often build a campfire to ward away most of the wildlife that was around to try and attack them. Even with this failsafe method, the bold are not deterred by this, and usually at least one attacks a night. Because of this, both Usopp and Heracles have to be on a state of alert. Even though Heracles was the one who did most of the saving, he found that Usopp could be a pretty reliable partner when it came to battle. His strange staff (he believed it was named Kabuto) was highly effective in warding off—if not killing—any attacking animals.

They spent their time around the fire and would often eat (Heracles usually some kind of meat, while Usopp had some kind of bad-tasting vegetable) and talk about their lives. Heracles found himself amused with the stories Usopp would normally tell, even though he could tell they were obviously lies.

"And then, after we fought off so many marines," Usopp said, finishing up one of his stories, "we were completely surrounded and thought we had lost. Then, out of nowhere, our old ship that shouldn't have been able to move anymore, the _Merry Go_, came to our aid and delivered us safely from the Buster Call."

"So it came completely on its own, eh Usoppun?"

"That's right."

"That's a pretty good lie," he said with a lackluster voice, causing Usopp to get angry and throw something at him.

"It's not a lie damn it!" Usopp persisted. "Did I ever tell you about the time we were eaten by a massive goldfish before two giants sliced us out of its belly?"

"Mmhmm," Heracles replied with the same kind of voice. "That'sun a good lie as well."

After another item was thrown at Heracles, he decided to get serious. "So tell me Usoppun," he started, "you keep talking about your crew so fondly, yet you ended up here all aloneun. What happened to them?"

Usopp looked down and didn't respond for a while.

"Well…" he said finally, "to put it shortly, me and my crew were separated. We fought a really powerful enemy who teleported all of us to different areas; I just happened to appear here and then I met you, and here we are."

"I seeun," he said after a long pause. "Let me ask youn, how badly do you want to see them?"

"They're my friends and crewmates!" Usopp exclaimed. "Of course I want to see them badly! I would never abandon them and they would never abandon me!"

Silence reigned for a few seconds before Heracles spoke. "A long time agoun, I used to be a part of a pirate crew. We sailed the seas for a few yearsun before we were attacked; I was the only survivor. I since returned home and back to my tribeun. I swore I would protect them and make sure the same thing didn't happen to them. But eventually…"

He paused for a while, and despite wearing a helmet, Usopp could tell that some tears were coming from his eyes. "One dayun, while I was away alone to nab a particularly dangerous bug, the entire tribeun was attacked by a pack of vicious man-eating plants. I was able to kill the bug, but by the time I returned…my entire tribe was…"

He put his helmet up and rubbed his arms across his eyes.

"I was once again the only survivor, and as far as I knowun, I'm the only human left alive on this island. I've lived this way for many years, and sureun, there have been many visitors, but none of them ever stayed."

"Heracles…" Usopp said, not sure of what to say next in light of his story.

Sniffing, Heracles put his helmet back down. "So I've decided that I want to help you find your crew Usoppun. We'll leave this islandun and go find them!"

Usopp could barely believe what he was hearing, but he reacted by hopping over the fire (despite his still impressive girth) and hugged Heracles. "Do you mean that?!" he asked. "I would be eternally grateful if you meant that!"

Heracles, however, was not so joyous to get hugged by the massive Usopp. He held up a feeble hand and said, "Usoppun…you're too heavy…UNH!"

With all of his strength, Heracles was able to move Usopp onto the side. "Sorry," Usopp said, scratching the back of his head. "I just got a little carried away."

Taking in large quantities of breath, Heracles stated, "It's fineun…Oh, and by the way, since we have a timetable nowun, I'm going to have to accelerate your exercise program to make sure you lose the weight even faster now; can't have you going like this now can we?"

"WHAT?!!!"

— — —

The last week and a half were a blur for Usopp. Heracles could be quite the sadist when he wanted too, and what he was forced to do proved it. They were mostly things that were unspeakable, and as such Usopp reserved the right to keep them to himself. The plus side (that is the only plus side), is that Usopp had lost all of that massive weight he had put on. He was now back to his slim self, and he now learned his lesson: never become a glutton; the consequences are dire.

Heracles was leading him into the edge of Greenstone Forest to show him a surprise. Usopp wasn't sure as to what it was, but he knew better than to ask; lest he spoiled Heracles fun.

"This way, Usoppun, we're almost thereun," he said, pushing past some brush.

Usopp passed by several man-eating plants and massive bugs on the way to this area, so he figured that this surprise better be worth it; and worth it it turned out to be. Heracles stopped right at the edge of the forest; it was clear that this was the coastline, as the ocean was clearly visible from their vantage point. He walked over to an area crowded with all manner of plant-life and started to move it.

"Here it isun!" he said excitedly.

"What exactly is it Hera—"

Heracles successfully moved all of the brush and revealed an old looking, but still very sturdy ship. It was around the size of the _Merry Go_, and it looked like it hadn't been touched in a long time. On the front was a statue of a giant stag beetle, and the picture of a stag could clearly be seen on the ships main sail. The ship had a level of cannons below the deck, and a level of cannons on the deck. There were double-sided stair cases right next to what looked like the Captain's Quarters.

Usopp walked closer to it and marveled its presence. He touched the wood and said, "This ship is…"

"This is the ship me and my crew used to sail," Heracles said with pride. "Welcome, Usoppun, to the good ship _Stag_!"

"You used to sail it with your crew, huh?" he repeated. "It doesn't look like it's that badly destroyed."

"True," answered Heracles. "_Stag_ was badly damaged after my crew was…well, you knowun, and by the time I sailed it back to this island, it was an even worse wreckun. However, spending my life on this island has lent me a sortun of chore. In my free time I would keep coming back to _Stag_ and rebuilding itun with some of the wood I had. Although it's not perfect, I'd say it's almost restored back to its glory days. Don't you worry Usoppun, _Stag_'ll sail just fine."

They both boarded the ship as Usopp was able to marvel it from on top now. Its age was clear, but it was obvious to Usopp that Heracles put a lot of time and effort into restoring the ship. As someone who has felt that way as well, Usopp gained a new respect for Heracles.

"I've supplied the ship with enough food and water for a weekun," Heracles explained. "Nowun, if you could just kindly tell me where it was you and your crew were separated?"

"It was Sabaody Archipelago," replied Usopp. "You probably haven't heard of it but—"

"Haven't heard of itun?" Heracles repeated. "Don't be ridiculous Usoppun. That used to be me and my crews favorite place to go. Luckily for us Usoppun, I know that route well, and I even know a shortcut there, and it shouldn't take more than a few days for us to arrive and you can be reunited with your crewun."

"Really?!" Usopp said in an elated voice. "That's fantastic! Let's go now! The sooner we get there, the better!"

Heracles had a good laugh; he reminded himself of him from the old days. "Very wellun, alright _Stag_, you ready? Let's go!"

He pushed off of the Boin Archipelago and they were suddenly on their way. Heracles was right, he did know a shortcut, and it paid off well for the two of them.

They arrived at Sabaody Archipelago in four days time.

* * *

Usopp and Hearcles depart...

**See, now wasn't that great? You know what would make it better? If you favorited/reviewed it. And if that was too much, I just hope you enjoyed it.**

**Please Review! (Look to the above "rant")**


	8. Expedition at 10,000 Feet

Nami journeys back to the Grand Line. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**8: Expedition at 10,000 Feet**

Nami looked with a grimace at the rations that were left. She shifted around the bag some more, but it didn't help. Sighing, she looked at the map, and then at her log pose, and then back at her map, and then back at her log pose. She was on the right course, she was sure of it, but she underestimated the amount of time necessary to get there.

She let her arm hang out on the edge of her dial boat as she touched the clouds she was floating on.

_"I'm too used to using the jet dials to power the boat," _she bitterly thought. _"These breeze dials just won't cut it when it comes to speed."_

Her dial boat moved along slowly but surely, but it was still far too slow for Nami. She looked at the map that Haredas gave her and did some quick math to find out how many more days it would take her to get to her destination. After a bit of calculating (all in her head of course), she nearly cried with the number she came up with.

Two days! There wasn't two days worth of food and water left for Nami to survive. She began to cry and mumble to herself. "Why do I always have such bad luck? Bad enough I was sent to a sky island, but now I'll probably die alone on this boat in the middle of this ocean made of clouds. Life is so unfair!"  
She flopped down on her back and stared up at the sky. Her destination was so far off; would she be able to make it?

— — —

_Nami had accepted the fact that she was now on a sky island called Weatheria. The man that had taken her in, Haredas, was kind enough, but offered little consolation to the obviously homesick Nami. He had tried to cheer her up by showing her his specially made "Wind Knot," but that only succeeded in annoying her. _

_Unsatisfied, Haredas suggested that she go along with him so she can see him do business on this small island. Apparently, he was known as the top meteorologist on the island, and the World Government often turned to him to get weather broadcasts in the area that the island happened to be in. When it came to predicting storms and typhoons, Haredas was second to none. Nami supposed she looked up to him for that, often being very good at picking those things up herself._

_She traveled along quietly while Haredas did his daily business on the island. Nami didn't understand anything he was saying to the other civilians there, but she just quietly played along and observed. Haredas said he made quite a killing that day, but Nami had no way of confirming or denying such a claim._

_Tired of just laying around doing nothing, Nami decided to ask how to leave this island. "Leave?" Haredas repeated. "Why would you want to leave?"_

_"Because I need to go back to my crewmates," she replied unhappily. "Just tell me, how did all of these people get on the island in the first place?"_

_"Well, we all migrated from Skypiea," he replied._

_Skypiea! That was it! Jumping up, Nami grabbed Haredas by the shoulders and asked, "How do I get to Skypiea? Tell me!"_

_"Well it's quite a trip," he replied. "Right now Weatheria is located in the White Sea; that's around three thousand 3000 meters below the White-White Sea, which is where most of the inhabitants of Skypiea live."_

_"I don't care how long it takes," she replied. "Do you just know how to get there?"_

_Haredas stroked his beard thoughtfully as he pondered the question. After a few moments he happily responded, "Indeed! I believe I have an old map around here somewhere…" He went through his desk to look for it. "Aha! Here it is! A map showing how to get to the White-White Sea!"  
Nami jumped over, grabbed the map, and hugged Haredas out of happiness. "Thank you so much! Now I can finally get back to my friends!"_

_Haredas was happy that Nami was no longer so downtrodden._

_So, Haredas gave Nami a dial boat with two breeze dials in the back for her trip. She chose her rations of food and water and got onto the boat._

_"You sure those are enough rations?" asked a concerned Haredas. "This trip will take a while."_

_"Don't worry," Nami said with a grin. "I've done the calculations and I have just the right amount of food and water to last me there."_

— — —

Her calculations were wrong, however, as she forgot to factor into account the speed of the breeze dials, assuming they were as fast as jet dials.

There was a day left until she reached Skypiea, but the constant grumble in her stomach made her think she wouldn't make it that far. She looked into her bag and saw that there wasn't much of anything left. She forced herself to ration her food to survive the trip, and while she didn't eat nearly as much, she still felt the pain of not having constant meals. She barely had any strength to do anything. Usually she just lied on her back staring at the sky, and occasionally looked at the map and her own log pose to make sure she was going the right way.

And so, the boat went along at its own pace. Due to the lack of sustenance, she began to see things and hallucinate quite a bit. Just a while ago she was sure she saw a flying horse in the sky. Of course that was absolutely ridiculous, but the hallucination persisted.

Sitting up and shaking her head, she took some water, drank a bit, and splashed a little on her face. Shaking her head and slapping herself in the face a few times made her think the illusion would go away.

The image would not leave, however. Before she knew it, the image of the flying horse got closer and closer. It was now close enough that she could see there was a man riding on it. That was when everything clicked. She immediately jumped up and yelled to the flying figure.

"GAN FALL!"

Gan Fall his pet Pierre heard this scream as they both looked down at Nami. Despite his old age (and probably deteriorating mind), he recognized Nami immediately as he flew right down to her.

"Nami!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here all alone in the White Sea?"

"It's a long story," she said through shaky breaths. "I'll tell you it some other time; what's important now is that I get to Skypiea. The only problem is that, well, this boat is going too slow and I'm short on food and water."

"Say no more," Gan Fall said, as he grabbed her by her arm and threw her onto Pierre. "I Gan Fall, will gladly escort you to the mainland."

Sighing with relief, Nami collapsed onto his back. "Thanks Gan Fall, it's nice to know that you didn't lose big heart."

"Hold on tight," he warned. "You'll see that Pierre is much faster than any dial boat could ever be."

Nami held on as hard as she could, but she found that even holding it, it was hard to stay onto the incredibly fast horse.

— — —

"So you see," Nami explained through mouthfuls of food, "this bear-looking asshole fights us, and we were beating him, until about a dozen showed up and started making us all disappear. I don't know where everyone else went, but I was sent to Weatheria, where I eventually left to come meet you guys."

Conis and Pagaya nodded as they let Nami continue stuffing large quantities of food down her throat.

Pierre had gotten her and Gan Fall to the mainland of Skypiea faster than she could have imagined. Nami herself requested they go to Pagaya and Conis's house, wanting to see them most of all, and of course, she could have a very good meal there. Gan Fall obliged and took her to their house. They were all greeted warmly as they invited both of them to dinner (which Nami was all too happy to accept).

"I see," Pagaya said. "That sounds horrible Nami. So you figured we were the best way to get you off of Skypiea?"

"Well we got off before didn't we?" she replied. "I'm guessing I could leave just like that as well right? Just take me to Cloud's End on whatever boat you have and I'll be on my way towards Sabaody."

Conis smiled at this and said, "You sure are smart Nami; most people would just accept that they could never leave, but you remembered your experience here on Skypiea and used it to your advantage."

"Thanks Conis," Nami blushed. "How is Skypiea doing since Enel left anyway?"

"It's doing perfect," Pagaya explained. "Gan Fall here is the God once again, and we have made peace with the Shandians, and are now working together to make life easier than it was before. And it was all thanks to you and your crew!"

"It wasn't me at all really," admitted Nami. "You really should be thanking Luffy if anyone."

"Really?" Gan Fall said. "Well that's a shame, because we had prepared a lot of gold for all of you, but you left without accepting it."

Nami's eyes immediately showed greed as she smiled saying, "Really?! Well in that case, you can thank me and reward me with some of that gold!"

"Sorry, but that gold has long since been gone," Conis said with a cheerful face. "We have already traded it in for extols, but we can give you plenty of those."

"You mean that currency where 10,000 extols equal one berry?" she said as the money signs disappeared from her eyes. "No thanks."

Everyone had a good laugh with that, and after a second Nami gave into the good cheer and joined in with them.

— — —

"Here's the Cloud's End," Pagaya, Gan Fall, and Conis said to Nami in her dial boat (slightly bigger than before with jet dials instead of breeze dials). "This is as far as we can accompany you."

"Thanks for everything everybody!" Nami said waving at her three friends. "I'll never forget you, and if I can convince the crew, maybe one day we could come back here!"

"Remember to hold on Nami!" Pagaya warned. "I'm sure you're familiar with the 'turbulence' of this ride!"

Nami flinched as she did remember, and suddenly she got very nervous.

"Good luck!" Conis yelled.

With that, Nami's small boat flew off the edge of Skypiea and started plummeting towards the blue sea. Luckily, Conis blew the Balloon Octopus Whistle, and a giant octopus flew out of the clouds and latched onto Nami's boat, acting as a balloon to slow her down.

Nami breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she was now safe. Then she suddenly remembered that the octopus didn't take them down all the way, and dropped them from a certain height. As if by magic, at that exact moment the octopus let go, leaving Nami falling in tears.

"_SHHHHHIIIIII…"_

— — —

Roronoa Zoro had encountered some…minor setbacks with the ship that had picked him up. The Captain of the ship named _The Happy Sea Lion_, took a bit of persuading on Zoro's part to go and chase after Benjamin's own ship, was already had a major head-start. The Captain, aptly called Captain Sea Lion, was a rather portly fellow with a large brown beard. On the side of his generous waist was a rather fearsome looking cutlass. Sea Lion boasted to Zoro that he was worth 63 million berries and thought Zoro couldn't tell him what to do.

Zoro soon took care of that illusion.

He challenged Sea Lion to a fight and said whoever won would take control of the crew. It was no contest as Zoro easily knocked Sea Lion's cutlass away and pinned him down for the win. Despite him now controlling the crew, he promised Sea Lion he would give it back to them after he either caught Benjamin, or made it to Sabaody Archipelago, where he would join his own crew and pursue him.

Despite the fact that the crew was now in line, Zoro had still lost a lot of time. He was sure he heard Benjamin mentioning the New World, so he knew he would appear at Sabaody to get his ship coated so he could go there. Knowing this, Zoro ordered the navigator to set a course there.

This navigator, however, was no Nami, as they suffered a lot of setbacks, going through storms and whirlpools that could have been avoided.

He had spent a day and a half on _The Happy Sea Lion_ and was currently resting on the deck looking at nothing in particular in the sky. Little did he know, that was all about to change.

It started with a sound coming from the sky, forcing Zoro to look up. He could then see a dark figure falling fast in the sky coming towards them.

"_…IIIIIIIIT!"_

Nami's dial boat hit the water with a large splash right next to Zoro's ship. The boat, being small and therefore unable to take the impact, shattered on contact. Luckily it did its job in protecting Nami, as she just grabbed a hold of a piece of driftwood and appeared uninjured.

Zoro ran over to the side of the ship and saw who was floating there. "Nami?!"  
Nami looked up and was happy to see a familiar face. "Zoro!"

"Pull her up!" Zoro ordered to the crew, who were forced to oblige.

After drying off, Nami ran up to Zoro and said, "Boy am I glad to see you!"

"I can't believe I'm saying this," he responded, "but likewise. I'm going to need you to navigate and get us back to Sabaody ASAP."

Nami didn't feel like asking why Zoro was commanding this ship and just went straight to work. She examined the log pose and looked at the map on a table nearby and started rapping out orders.

"Turn the ship a little bit to the left!" she yelled.

The entire crew looked at her with a face of distrust. Sensing this, Nami yelled, "Look, I am the leader of this crew now, and you will do what I say!"

The entire crew, including Sea Lion, looked at Zoro for some kind of approval.

Sighing, Zoro nodded and said with an unenthused voice, "Better just listen to what she said. Trust me, it's not good to get on her bad side…"

* * *

Nami and Zoro together...it'll all work out, right?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	9. The Strike and the Scramble

The Plan is put into action...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**9: The Strike and the Scramble**

_The following are various clips taken from several Den-Den Mushi:_

_Den-Den Mushi #497  
__Sabaody Archipelago  
__4:57-4:59 P.M._

Captain of the Firetank Pirates and one of the Eleven Supernovas Capone Bege was confronted by a single man in the middle of a deserted backstreet.

The man was around six feet and looked to be in his early twenties. He wore a long brown trench coat that fell down to his boots. He wore a plain white shirt underneath the coat and also wore a pair of black fingerless gloves. The most noticeable aspect of the man was that he wore a wide-brimmed brown cowboy hat that caused a shadow to cover the top half of his face.

Capone didn't appear concerned as he was surrounded by his crew (he never traveled with less than ten men at all times) and smiled as his cigar smoke drifted upward. "What do you want kid? You're in my way."

The man lifted a part of his hat and revealed his youthful face. He smiled at the man as he spoke in a noticeable southern accent. "_Whooooo! _Capone Bege of the Firetank Pirates; current bounty 138,000,000, and eater of the Fort-Fort Fruit I presume?"

"Yeah, so what? Who the hell are you?"

The man held out a hand as if he wanted to shake as he replied, "The name's Helmont, William Helmont; but you can call me Will for short if you like."

Capone did not look amused as he just asked, "You're a bounty hunter aren't you?"

Grinning, he replied, "Somethin' like that. Regardless, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to take ya in."

"Give it up kid!" Bege said with an even bigger smile on his face. "In terms of military might, you've already lost."

With that, drawbridges dropped out in his chest revealing a massive amount of cannons. Without any warning, all of them fired, hitting William head-on. The men around Capone readied their weapons as the smoke cleared.

Surprisingly, William looked unharmed (albeit some of his clothes were burned). Not even attempting to hide his surprise, Capone's cigar dropped out of his mouth. Nearly laughing at his speechlessness, William held out his index finger in the shape of a gun and aimed at one of his men.

With a smile he brought his hand up as if he was shooting him, even making the sound effects a shooting gun would make. Surprisingly, blood shot out of the man he aimed at as he fell backwards, dead as a doornail. Capone looked at the dead man and then at William, who was still smiling.

"Allow me to rephrase that for ya, in terms of military might, _you've _already lost."

An all-out battle pursued as his men opened fire.

The video was lost as a stray bullet hit the Den-Den Mushi.

— — —

_Den-Den Mushi #284  
__Kendrich Isle  
__3:13-3:16 P.M._

Foxy the Silver Fox was in a bad spot. There was no challenge to a Davy Back Fight, no large raids, no mutiny. Only a surprise attack one day in the middle of a town in Kendrich Isle, where he and his crew had stopped to get some much needed supplies.

The attack was carried out by one man. A man who went by the name of Daron Arkan.

Foxy held his ground the best he could. He looked around and saw all around him his men were defeated. All of the civilians retreated as soon as they saw a fight was breaking out and hid in the safety of their own homes. Meanwhile, Daron looked completely unharmed.

He looked to be in his early thirties and was around five-eleven. He wore black combat boots with camouflaged pants, shirt, and a camouflaged bandana resting on his forehead to match. The shirt had no sleeves to show off his arm muscles. He had short messy brown hair and a grizzly looking scar running from the end of his right eyebrow and stopping at his right cheek.

Daron yawned as his eyelids began to drop. "Come on…" he said unenthusiastically. "It's clear you've—" He yawned. "—lost…"

Foxy, however, was not one to give up. He pointed his index and pinky finger at him and yelled, "Slow-Slow Beam!"

The beam didn't have a chance to hit the man, however, as he simply disappeared and reappeared right behind him; Foxy felt his blood run cold.

Right as he turned around, the man dealt him a fierce head-butt, flooring him. Stepping on his chest, the man pulled out a pair of seastone cuffs and, painfully wrenching up Foxy's right arm, clasped it onto his wrist. Foxy tried to struggle, but a quick boot to the face stopped him for good.

Yawning, Daron heaved Foxy onto his shoulder and carried him away until he was out of sight.

— — —

_Den-Den Mushi #832  
__Muriacht__ Island  
__6:37-6:41 P.M._

Daz Bones (formerly known as Mr. 1) swept the floor with his hand and attempted to cut Kenji; he blocked it with his arm, and Daz Bones growled in anger as he saw there was only a very light scratch.

He and Crocodile left Marineford on the same boat, but they were attacked by the marines and were forcefully separated. Since then, they had both been doing their own thing, but they both were trying to find each other as well, and both of them knew it. Daz Bones followed his latest lead to Muriacht Island, and that's when he was confronted by Kenji.

He said he was going to capture him, but didn't elaborate any further than that. Daz Bones, however, wouldn't go down without a fight. He immediately attacked using the powers of his Dice-Dice Fruit, but each attack did nothing. He struck Kenji's overly long white sleeve and it revealed a massive amount of thick brown hair.

Daz Bones was able to tell that he had eaten some kind of Zoan-type Devil Fruit, but wasn't able to tell what kind; Kenji didn't grant him the opportunity to see as he has yet to transform.

Kenji kept a solemn expression on his face as his right arm suddenly got massive (but Daz Bones couldn't tell what was underneath due to his incredibly long sleeves) as he struck Daz Bones down. He tried to block it by turning his arm into a blade, but his right arm wouldn't cut and they were in a stalemate for a few seconds, before the strength of Kenji's arm overpowered him.

Daz Bones was sent flying, and, still keeping the same solemn expression, Kenji hopped on him. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, but Kenji's feet turned into something massive that Daz Bones couldn't identify right away; he didn't have the time to as Kenji landed on him with a dull smash, causing blood to fly out of Daz Bone's mouth.

The pressure turned out to be too much as, despite Daz Bone's steel body, he was still knocked out from the force of it. Binding his hands with seastone cuffs, Kenji looked up and saw the Den-Den Mushi recording the entire thing.

He simply stared at it silently for a few seconds, and then he dragged Daz Bone's unconscious form out of its range.

— — —

_Den-Den Mushi #483  
__Sabaody Archipelago  
__4:31-4:33 P.M._

Kaede had won, that much was clear, but dragging Basil Hawkins' unconscious body had been obviously painful work.

Kaede smiled as he remembered the look on Hawkins' face when he saw that his chances of survival were 0%. No doubt it unnerved him, but he still put up a fight, but in the end, it was no contest.

The two fought out of the Den-Den Mushi's sight, but when Kaede did appear within it's range, he let go of the seastone shackled Hawkins and took a second to catch his breath. He took several deep breaths and wiped the sweat off of his face. He took about a minute or so to rest, and then he grabbed Hawkins by his arm again.

Right when he was about to drag him again, he noticed the Den-Den Mushi. He cocked his head in curiosity as a large smile came on his face. He flipped the Den-Den Mushi off and then started dragging Hawkins' body again.

It took him nearly fifteen seconds to get his entire body out of its frame of vision.

— — —

The following transcript is taken from a regular marine band on Recht Island in the Grand Line from 7:17-7:20 P.M.

"Recht, Zone 7, Unit 13. This is Petty Officer Juran Prenston. Blue Base, do you copy? Over."

"Copy Unit 13, this is Blue Base. Why is there not a higher ranking officer on this channel? Over."

"Ah, well I'm the highest ranking officer as of right now, over."

"Could you elaborate on that please? Over."

"Well, we had a female intruder enter into the base a while ago, demanding to see Captain Shuu, the commanding officer in this base. Upon refusal, she attacked us with apparent devil fruit powers. Upon counter-attack, all of our bullets and swords went through her as if nothing happened."

"Copy, 13, could you tell me what's going on right now? Over."

"Ah, well, we were forced up onto the top floor in retreat, where we locked ourselves into a room with Captain Shuu. He ordered me to contact you and update you on the situation Blue, over."

"Alright, copy 13; we'll see if we can scramble a unit to help you take care of the problem. Over."

"Thanks, we're fine at the moment; we don't know what she's doing currently, over."

"Copy, we're reporting this to the higher-ups right now, 13. Can you hold your position? Over."

"We're holed up in here pretty tight, Blue Base, we should be able to hold up for a whi—ah, Blue Base! Blue Base! Do you copy? Over!"

"We read you 13, what's the problem?"

"The door is breaking down! Repeat, the door is fucking breaking down! Water seems to be leaking through the cracks, over!"

"Calm down, 13, could you repeat that? Over."

"_Water through the fucking door! She just burst through and is flooding the area! Repeat, she is flooding the area with water, fucking over!_"

"13, we need a proper assessment of the damage. Do you think you can—"

_"AAHHHHH!"_

"13! 13! If you can hear this message, repeat. Do you copy? Over."

But there was only silence on the band.

— — —

_Den-Den Mushi #487  
__Sabaody Archipelago  
__4:44-4:45 P.M._

Tobias had an incapacitated Eustass Kidd on his back. He walked slowly and calmly until he noticed the Den-Den Mushi. Then he stopped.

Keeping his face solemn, he picked up the nearest rock and threw it at the Den-Den Mushi, knocking it out of service.

— — —

The Marines were not blind to these strange occurrences.

Fleet Admiral Sengoku had commissioned Commodore Smoker to carefully review all of the videos and transcripts just shown. He leaned back a little further on his chair and lit himself a new cigar. Taking a smoke, he turned to the nearest marine.

"So what do you think?"

"It seems bizarre to say the least, sir."

Sighing, Smoker dropped some ash from his cigar into the ashtray. "Looks to me like someone's having one fuck of a wild party and all of the devil fruit users are invited."

"Sir?"

"Look closely, marine. All of these guys on the Den-Den Mushi's are heavy-hitters; almost all of them have extensive records," he said, going in order of the tapes as he named the men off. "William Helmont, Daron Arkan the Marauder, Kenji and Kaede the two brothers, and that person on the marine band sounds an awful lot like Aliyyah the Typhoon. As for the last guy, your guess is as good as mine."

He took a second to pause and release some smoke from his mouth.

"Anyways, the obvious connection between all of these guys is that they're only targeting devil fruit users. I don't know who's tellin' all of these guys who to target, but I know he's doin' it for a reason, and I'm willin' to bet that whatever's going down is gonna be big."

"What do you suggest we do then sir?"

Thinking for a second, Smoker finally said, "Put out an alert on all of those guys, and look into their records for anything recent. It's obvious they're working together for something, and any kind of name of their organization would help."

"Yes sir!" the marine saluted before walking off to carry out the order.

Smoker too his cigar and put it out on his ashtray. "I can already tell this one's gonna be a real pain."

— — —

Enel opened his eyes and immediately noticed two things: the absence of light, and the throbbing pain his head was going through. He tried to move his arms and legs, but saw that they were both chained. He tried to transform into lightning, but was surprised to find that his powers wouldn't activate.

His knife and gunshot wounds weren't as painful as before, but it was clear they were still a problem. If he didn't get medical aid soon, he might get them infected and that could kill him.

Death, that was a strange thing for Enel to fathom. God's don't die, God's live on forever. He shook his arms and legs in an attempt to escape, but all it did was make an annoying rattling noise. Enel refused to accept that this was the end; for a God, every hour was supposed to be a magic hour, everything was supposed to be perfect.

Shaking harder, he only got the attention of Victor, who turned towards Enel with a smile. "Looks like you're awake, eh?"

He began to walk closer to him.

Enel shook even harder in a desperate attempt to escape. He didn't know who this man was, but he could sense that if he let him get any closer, Enel would die. Enel couldn't die, he was supposed to be immortalized as a God among the people; his powers allowed him to do that. Why couldn't he access his powers now?

"Shhhhh," Victor tried to soothe. "You'll just make it harder if you struggle. Just relax; it'll all be over soon."

Enel let from his throat rip an animal-like cry. "That won't change the inevitable," was all Victor said. "You've lost Enel, and now you pay the price." Victor reached his arm out and touched Enel's chest.

Then, extreme pain coursed through Enel. Not knowing what to do, he simply let out a massive roar. _"AAAAAHHHHHHH!"_

Victor smiled at this and chuckled at Enel's misfortune. "See, now that wasn't so bad now was it?"

But Enel didn't reply as his vision dimmed and he felt the end coming. For Enel the God, the magic hour was over.

* * *

What is he planning in the darkness?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	10. A Revolutionary Meeting

Robin meets a surprise visitor. Enjoy!

**Hey Everybody, it's Spring Break for me, and that means that I can update more times this week (Yayyyyyy!) So expect another update on Wednesday, and maybe on Friday instead of Saturday as well (not quite sure on that one).**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**10: A Revolutionary Meeting**

The large cedar grandfather clock ticked endlessly in the corner, its pendulum bobbing back and forth to a certain rhythm, never missing a beat. The clock read that it was 2:38 P.M., and sitting in a chair by a desk waiting was Nico Robin. Each clock tick just added to the tension, as she sat and waited for the Captain to come back in.

After the Straw Hat's attack by Bartholomew Kuma, Robin was sent to the island of Tequila Wolf, where she was forcefully bound into slavery to help build a bridge that is 700 years old and still not completed. When asked why they were building it, the slaver told her it was none of her business and that she should only concern herself with building it.

But 700 years…

Fortunately, none of the slavers knew about her devil fruit power, and since they only bounded her with regular handcuffs instead of seastone cuffs, she was able to user the power of the Flower-Flower Fruit to aid her escape.

She used it first to get the keys from the guards. The guards in which the keys were stolen from obviously noticed the arm sprouting by them, but a few placed hands and a cracked spine took care of them rather nicely.

She was able to free her hands, but now she was on high alert from the guards. She was forced into hiding as they looked for her night and day, saying how she was a devil fruit user and is a threat to the peace to the island, or something like that (Robin wasn't really listening).

Then, three hard days and nights of hiding, stealing food, and finding shelter. To be honest, she wasn't quite sure what she was going to do after she escaped, just that she needed to escape. Unfortunately for her, there were no boats on Tequila Wolf, and the bridge she was issued to build wasn't completed yet.

So she went for the next best thing, guerilla warfare. She freed other slaves, fought against guards, and tried her best to spread chaos around. Regrettably, most of the slaves she tried to free have been slaves for a long time, and their spirits had been broken already; she found no fighters among them.

The slavers and guards were also well organized as well. This posed a serious threat to Robin as she had to choose her moves strategically, lest she get spotted and taken down by a hundred or so guards.

This cat-and-mouse game continued for the better part of three days, and, on the beginning of the fourth day, hope came to them in the form of a revolutionary army. They were led by a man known as Commander Splint, a lanky looking soldier wearing a gray bucket hat with white vertical stripes with strands of his pale blonde hair falling down just above his eyes and a somewhat youthful face with stubble growing out of his chin. He dressed somewhat outlandishly (as most Revolutionaries did), but he always wore a pair of black gloves at all times.

He stated he was affiliated with Dragon

_(Monkey D.)_

the Revolutionary, and that this island was just the newest step in the Revolutionaries plan to overthrow the World Government. While this may have been good news some other time, Robin only cared that she had been rescued. No more sneaking around and living day to day, she had officially been rescued, and her first chance to leave the East Blue and get back to her friends at Sabaody Archipelago.

Unfortunately, she was brought in by Splint for some questioning first.

The time was now 2:41 P.M.

Commander Splint finally opened the door, and shut it almost immediately. Taking up a seat across the desk from Robin's, he leaned back and put his feet up on the table. He pulled out a cigarette, and after an attempt to offer Robin one (which she refused), he lit it and took a quick drag.

"I'm sure you understand our concerns, Miss?"

"Robin."

That name sounded vaguely familiar in Splint's mind, but he quickly pushed it out. "Right, Miss Robin. I'm sure you understand our concerns and the…circumstances in which we found you."

"I've already told you I wasn't with them," she stated.

Taking a long puff, Splint bluntly replied, "We can never be so sure. I mean, these fuckers have been using slavery on this island for near 700 years now. 700 years, do you know the significance of that number?"

Robin remained silent.

"700 years ago was when the Void Century ended, and the World Government was just formed," Splint explained. "Do you know what this means Miss Robin? It means that the World Government has been building this bridge since its creation. Now I dunno why progress was so god damn slow on their part, maybe a lack of slaves or something, but one thing is for certain; this bridge means a helluva lot to the World Government—why else would they build it for so long?—and that is reason enough for us to stop its production."

Several seconds of silence passed as the grandfather clock ticked on in the corner.

Finishing off his cigarette, Splint put it out right on the table and locked eyes with Robin. "Not gonna give us any information then are ya?"

Robin continued to be silent.

Sighing and scratching the back of his head, Splint stood up. "Look, I got no problem with you takin' out, or even killin' some of the guards, those men got it coming to them ten times over already. The problem is that you haven't given us any information about anything, and I'm afraid we just can't trust you."

"I don't know anything about why they're building that bridge, if that's what you're asking," Robin simply replied. "All I can tell you is that I was a prisoner and was able to escape."  
Splint took his cigarette packet out and started to take one out.

"And how, pray tell, did you manage to do that?"

Before he could get the cigarette fully out, two arms sprouted on his chest. One took the cigarette out and put it his mouth, while the other took his lighter and lit it for him. He stared at Robin with a shocked expression, before he simply smiled, looking down.

"A devil fruit user, eh? Well, that would explain it. They didn't get many of those up here and didn't bother using seastone cuffs."

"So does that mean I'm free to go now?"

"Not quite," he said. "Just one more thing; would you mind telling me how you got here in the first place?"

That was the question Robin was afraid of. She doubted anyone would believe her if she said a man who at the Paw-Paw Fruit was able to send her flying here in three days. What else could she do, though? She was this close to finally be on her way off of this island and getting back to her friends. Sighing, she knew she would have to tell him.

It was 2:44 P.M.

"Well, I was sent here against my will by the Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma; you've probably heard of him. Anyways, he separated me and my crew and I eventually landed here. They took me in, and the rest, as you know, is history."

Something about that struck Splint odd, as he pondered for a second. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks. "You're not Nico Robin, are you? Part of the Straw Hat Crew?"

She nodded solemnly.

Splint burst out laughing. He laughed so much that his cigarette fell out of his mouth. "Shit!" he said through his bouts of laugher. "You're one of the reasons Dragon sent us to this fuckin' island."

"What was that?!"

Splint's laughter settled down as he sat back down. "I don't have all of the details, but apparently Dragon's been sendin' search teams out on you and your whole crew. When the order came in that we were supposed to invade this island, Dragon told me that a secondary mission was to look for this Nico Robin character. I forgot about it until you mentioned getting scattered from your crew."

"Dragon's been watching us?" asked a confused Robin. "What for?"

"Hell if I know," Splint said, lighting another cigarette. "It's only been rumors really, but a lot of other leaders of our revolutionary groups have been given similar orders to find members of the Straw Hat Crew. The reason? That's somethin' you'll have to ask the big man yourself."

He stood back up and walked towards the door. Beckoning Robin, he said, "Follow me, I need to show you somethin'."

Robin obliged as she slowly stood up and followed him out into the island. All around she saw groups of freed slaves, most of which were incredibly overjoyed to finally be freed from what must have been years of slavery. Most of the revolutionaries were celebrating their newest victory with drinks and food and music and good cheer.

Splint walked over to the recently set-up communication line and took the speaker. In a laidback tone he said, "Hey Boss, I got the girl you said I need to keep an eye on; Nico Robin, repeat, I found Nico Robin. As I recall you wanted me to get in contact with you as soon as I found her, right?"

On the other side of the speaker, a voice came in. "Good job Commander Splint. I knew I could trust on you for such an important task. I shall be over there in a few. Over."

"Roger that, Splint over and out."

He hung up the transmitter and threw away his current cigarette. "That was the boss now," he said, smiling as he turned back to her. "He'll be here in a second to greet ya. Better get prepared."

"That was Dragon?" Nico questioned. "How can he get here in a 'second'? I thought your base was in the New World; it's impossible for someone in the New World to get to the East Blue in a matter of—"

Splint pointed behind Robin and snickered, "Impossible isn't anything for our boss."

Nico Robin turned around and saw Dragon there, right behind her. She was nearly awestruck, as a small sound escaped her lips and she backed away, nearly stumbling on her own two feet. Meanwhile, Splint snickered at her expense.

Dragon held out his hand. "Hello, I'm Dragon the Revolutionary, a.k.a. the World's Most Wanted Man and father of your Captain, but you already knew that didn't you? It is a pleasure to meet you Nico Robin."

Dragon was certainly an imposing figure. Standing at a respective six-two, his wild black hair was swept back, showing all of his face. He always had some kind of sinister smile on his face (it was the kind of sinister where you're glad that he's on your side, because that kind of smile let you know he had a plan) set along with his mature face and deep-set eyes. He was wearing a green cloak covering his body, but by far the most noticeable thing was his set of tribal tattoos on the left side of his face. Despite knowing exactly who he was, Robin couldn't help but feel like she was looking into the eyes of a strange, a dangerous man who could gut her at any second.

Stopping herself from trembling, she held out her hand and shook. "N-Nice to meet you."

Dragon kept his smile as he said, "Sorry to bother you like this, but I have a very important message I need you to relay to your Captain; it is very urgent, and you're probably the only one I can trust with remembering it."

"First things first," she said, feeling a little bolder. "How did you know where all of us have been and where we are now?"

Dragon took a few steps forward and calmly replied, "I've been keeping tabs on your crew since your Captain left Roguetown. Call it being a hopeful father, but I felt that Luffy was gonna be big. And I must say he has exceeded my expectations, reaching 300 million berries in such a short amount of time. Anyways, once you and your crew got separated by Kuma, I sent out my best birds with den-den mushi's attached to them in order to find out where you went. It really wasn't that hard."

Robin just stood there, taking in all of the information she just learned; it was 2:56 P.M.

"As I was saying," Dragon continued, "you're the one I trust the most to deliver this information. The rest of your crew is…well, let's just say they are a little absent-minded."

"What message are you talking about?"

Dragon grinned a little wider. "Just tell him as soon as you see him, that there's a grave threat coming, and that he needs to be very patient with it, yet not let it go unpunished either. He should enter the New World, but he needs to do it with caution, especially when he enters a certain island. Patience and planning are key, especially while there."

"What do you mean 'grave threat'?" she asked, a little puzzled.

Dragon ruffled his hair and simply stated, "You'll find out soon enough." After a few brief seconds of silence, he finally said, "Commander Splint here will be happy to take you back to Sabaody Archipelago. The Grand Line's not far from here and we have an eternal pose there, so it shouldn't take that long."

Turning around, he raised his hand to say goodbye and said, "Until next we meet Nico Robin."

"Wait!" Robin yelled. "You've never been interested in or helped us or your son before, so why are you starting now?!"

"A cold wind and massive storm are approaching, and I want my son and his crew to be in top shape and together when that happens," was all he responded with.

"What do you mean by—"

By he had disappeared, leaving Robin in a state of complete and utter confusion.

The grandfather clock chimed three times to signify that it was three o'clock P.M.

* * *

Mysterious...to say the least.

**Expect Update on Wednesday!**

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	11. Struggle in the South Blue

Chopper attempts to survive on this new island. Enjoy!

**I'm writing this to let everyone know that I am an idiot (it's shocking I know). It has been pointed out to me in two reviews ("giodan" and "Neko of death", who I thank endlessly for pointing it out) that I had made a mistake in the last chapter "A Revolutionary Meeting" about Robin already knowing that Dragon was Luffy's father. **

**I wish I could give you all a good reason as to why I wrote her to act surprised at this information like "she didn't want Dragon to know that she knew he was Luffy's dad" or something like that, but I won't bullshit you. The truth is, I forgot all about her knowing. I am only human (unfortunately) and with this new information coming to light, I have corrected the last chapter of that mistake and promise that in future chapters, it will not be repeated.**

**I've bored you long enough. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**11: Struggle in the South Blue**

A young-gun reporter for a local newspaper who went by the name of Jimmy Perowitz decided he had the story of his career, or rather, it was more like the project of his life (or his life's work if you prefer).

Newspapers didn't go anywhere in small towns like his. Jimmy grew up at Magus Point, a small thrifty village located in the South Blue. No famous pirates came from there, nothing interesting happened there, and as such, the news from there was reduced to "Who has the best butcher shop in town?", or "Have you ever wondered what really goes on at the Priest's house?", or Jimmy's personal favorite, "Why nothing happening at Magus really helps in protecting it."

What a laugh. Jimmy wasn't interested in boring stories like that. He had one fundamental idea in mind when it came to writing for the newspaper: "If it's not interesting, people don't give a fuck about it," and certainly stories with titles like the ones listed above were not in the least bit interesting, so by Jimmy's logic, no one gave a fuck about them.

This idea, however, made Jimmy think he was on the way to his own personal fame. The idea was simple: each month write and document every island from here to the New World. No doubt this was an ambitious project on Jimmy's part, and wasn't so naïve enough to think it would be completed quickly (hence calling it his life's work), but he had the idea that once he was done with a few islands, he would get recognized and be able to get some help from a big-named newspaper.

As of now, with Jimmy's seven island stories, he has yet to be noticed. Jimmy was naturally an optimist, so he figured he would be noticed soon. Especially, he thought, with his newest island he was showcasing, the Torino Kingdom.

Normally Jimmy would go to the island, but for one like this, he settled on reporting from afar and interviewing people who have been there personally. While naturally most people who lived there were seen as somewhat of a savage people, he wouldn't be able to interview them, so he went to searching for someone who was there, but was still in touch with the modern world.

Luck came with him when he landed on "Captain" Billy Meran. Although he was a crotchety old man in his seventies now, Billy was known in his days as a famous pirate. He had a bounty (while not the biggest ever seen), and was regularly chased by the Marines. He naturally gave up pirating after a certain age, faked his own death, and started a new life for himself. Luckily, he was located at Magus Point, and Jimmy went to pursue him.

Sitting in a rocking chair eating food that wasn't hard to chew (as all of his teeth were gone), Billy was happy to talk to Jimmy about this particular island. Back when he was a pirate, he spent near six months on that island, looking for the treasure it promised. When he found none, he cursed after wasting so much time, and eventually moved on. Apparently it was such an experience, that Billy was able to remember it perfectly.

"I tell you, if some new pirates went to that island now, they'd shit their pants and be outta there in a second," Billy cackled. "But me and my crew stayed there for near half a year just to look for some vast amount of treasure that was taken long ago. It was known as Treasure Isle, but all we found was danger."

"What exactly did you find there?" questioned Jimmy, writing down what Billy said.

"Birds three times the size of any human I've ever seen," he answered. "What's more, the natives there are fuckin' savages; they'd beat your brains out and use it for stew if they wanted."

"And what about the layout of the island?"

"Well shit, the island's just one huge fuckin' tree," exclaimed Billy, cackling some more. The natives there are usually on the lower levels of it, and the birds are on the higher levels. We climbed to the top of that island, and I'll have you know it's not a pleasant place to be."

"Could you elaborate?"

Billy rocked back and forth a few more times, thinking about what to say, before he finally responded. "Let's just say unless you know what you're doin', you're bringing yourself to an early grave…"

— — —

Unfortunately for Tony-Tony Chopper, who was on Torino Kingdom, he did not know about the higher-up rule. In a desperate attempt to get away from the savages, he began to scale the giant tree. He figured that if he could rest on one of the branches, he would be able to spot a ship and ultimately leave here sooner than if he was on the ground.

This seemed like a good plan in theory, but execution could have been better. The actual climbing of the tree was tough work, especially for someone like Chopper. Thankfully, he turned into his human form to do most of the climbing, but that wasn't always bulletproof. He constantly kept slipping and falling down a few feet before finally regaining his grip. He eventually reached the first branch and was immediately worn out. Setting himself against the trunk of the tree, he almost immediately fell asleep…

He awoke the next day with his back immediately hurting. _"Just the pain of sleeping against a tree trunk all night," _the Doctor quickly diagnosed. _"Should go away relatively quickly."_

Looking around, he saw this area largely deserted. He quickly crawled to the edge and saw that he didn't have the best vantage point. Sighing, he decided he would have to go up even higher.

Chopper wasn't stupid by any stretch of the imagination. He knew that there were bound to be birds up on the higher levels, but he imagined that there were also places like this on the island, places that were devoid of bird life and he would be able to safely watch the sea without fear of getting attacked.

So, setting to his work, Chopper started at the trunk, and grabbed onto the nearest aberration in the tree and heaved himself up. It was tired work, but luckily there were several small branches that could support his light weight. There, Chopper rested and, luckily, still had his bag full of provisions that he had acquired from Sabaody Archipelago. Knowing he had to ration it, he ate little bits of food at a time. Thankfully, a good doctor always had a few spare bags of water in his bag, and rationed that as well.

When his work did resume, he found that the higher he got, the stronger branches there were, and the easier it was for him to climb (albeit he did have a few slip ups now and then which cost him a few injuries). The distance from one level to the next wasn't extremely high, but for someone as small as Chopper, who was constantly resting whenever he had the chance, getting from that level to the next turned out to be a full-time job.

It was getting dark now, and Chopper was nearing the top. He saw a particularly big branch and decided to rest there for the night, and get up the next morning. He looked down and saw several fires on the ground. Assuming they were from the natives, Chopper kept eyeing them until they eventually became blurred, and, eyelids weight down by sleep, became nothing at all.

— — —

Chopper had made a grave miscalculation.

He woke up early in the morning and after munching on his rations, went to finish his climb. He first inspected his hooves, which were now scratched and bloodied. Doing what he could with them with the medicine he had, he bandaged them up and went on his way. It didn't take him that long to climb up, but when he did climb up, he was surprised to say the least.

He tried his best to see what was going on up there while climbing, but the foliage made it near impossible. Accepting his powerlessness at the moment, he climbed up the rest of the way and let out a great big sigh of relief that he was finally up.

His sigh quickly turned to fear, however, as he saw the largest amount of sleeping giant birds he had ever seen in his life. He had apparently stumbled upon some kind of nest and immediately knew he was in the wrong place.

Trying his best to keep quiet, he tried to move slowly so as not to wake any of the birds, lest he wanted to become food for real. Inch by inch he was able to maneuver around the nests and got deeper in. His goal was to get past them and hopefully to a less populated hidden area.

He was nearly there, when he glanced out at the ocean and saw a ship coming towards this island. Unfortunately, this got Chopper so excited he had to yell: "A ship!"

This made his bad situation worse as all of the birds heard him and awoke in a cranky mood. Chopper immediately realized his mistake and covered up his mouth. The damage, however, was already done as he slowly turned around and saw several angry birds staring at him. Letting out a scream, he started to run, and the birds gave chase.

He knew now that he would have to go down the tree (making him lament all of the work he did to climb up it) to get to the ship and the birds chasing him only hastened his decision making. He ran towards the edge of the level and looked directly down. The area didn't look the cushiest, but it would have to do.

Quickly taking out a Rumble Ball, Chopper ate it and transformed into his Jumping Point. Taking one quick glance back at all of the squawking birds, he got a little bit of a head start and leapt off of the platform.

About halfway down, he quickly yelled: "Guard Point!"

With that, he transformed into a giant ball of fur that would be able to protect him, or at least he hoped it would. Bracing himself for impact, he landed hard on the ground below him. He turned out completely fine, as he transformed back into his normal self.

"Hahahaha," he laughed triumphantly. "I knew I would be fine, I just knew i—"

He looked all around him and saw a group of the natives, all staring down at him. Nearly at the point of tears, Chopper transformed into his Walk Point and ran away as fast as he could, with the natives giving chase.

He ran in the direction he thought the ship was in, and before he knew it, he saw a man standing alone with something in his hand looking in a dignified manner. Chopper didn't care who it was, as long as he didn't look fat like all of the natives here, he must be a friend.

He nearly leapt towards the man. He deftly side-stepped it, and sent Chopper flying into the brush. The man sighed as he saw the natives and, turning his hands into scissors, cut the ground underneath him and threw it at the natives to ward them off.

The man was Inazuma!

He was successful as his apparent manipulation of the ground was enough to scare the superstitious tribe to turn tail and run. Chopper, who was still dazed, looked up and saw Inazuma standing over him and holding out a hand.

"You must be Chopper. My name is Inazuma, and I was sent here to get you."

— — —

Chopper found himself on Inazuma's ship lying in bed to heal some of his injuries. The ship he was on had a doctor, and Chopper was able to make his problems clear for the doctor to easily diagnose and apply the medicine. Being left to rest, Inazuma came in to check up on him.

After a quick banter, Chopper was finally forced to ask, "You said you were sent here to find me. What exactly do you mean by that?"

Inazuma took a seat as he tried to explain. "Well basically, I'm a friend with your captain Luffy's father. I was recently with Luffy and a friend of mine named Ivankov. After we went our separate ways, Luffy's father told me to come to Centaurea—an island recently liberated—in the South Blue, the sea where I grew up, and more information would be waiting for me. I got there and I had a crew assembled and an eternal pose to Sabaody Archipelago set. To make a long story short, I'm here to reunite you with your crew."

"Luffy's Father…" Chopper repeated. "You mean Dragon the Revolutionary? He must care about us a lot to do this."

Inazuma was silent for a while, prompting Chopper to ask what the problem was. Pushing his sunglasses up to his nose, Inazuma eventually said, "Well, it would be foolish to think that he was doing this strictly out of the goodness of his heart. I'm sure he would have enough faith in his Son's crew to find their own way back. While I myself am spotty on the details, something big is going to happen for him to hasten the process himself."

Standing up, Inazuma walked towards the door; Chopper only sat, taking in what was just said. Before he left, Inazuma issued his last statements:

"We're currently en route to the Grand Line and Sabaody Archipelago. Rest well Chopper, I'm almost positive you're going to need your full strength."

He closed the door silently, leaving Chopper all alone with nothing but his own thoughts.

* * *

What's going on in Dragon's mind?

**Updating on Friday, since I will be busy on Saturday.**

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	12. Occurrence at the Summit

A meeting interrupted...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**12: Occurrence at the Summit**

Mariejois, the World Government Capital in the Grand Line, was alive with activity.

It had only been a few days since Whitebeard's attack on Marineford, the Marines main base, and while the island did hold in the end, the damage may very well be irreplaceable; currently, the World Government is surveying the damage and determining if that statement is true or not.

A lot of heat has fallen upon Sengoku the Buddha due to the Marines inability to retain the damage. While Sengoku was quick to point out that they were successful in killing off Whitebeard, the World Government wasn't happy with those results alone.

It had been an intense few days for Sengoku. Immediately after the battle, he was required to go to Mariejois with the top brass of the marines and report on the outcome. While expecting somewhat positive feedback on the death of one of the Yonko, Sengoku was sorely disappointed when the World Government quickly reported the loss of marine lives and cost of damage to Marineford.

Sengoku put that out of his mind for now; he had bigger problems to worry about.

There was no doubt the world was in a frenzy after this, things needed to be straightened out, and Sengoku was the one who had to do it. In order to accomplish this, the leader of the Marines called together a special meeting with the Shichibukai and three Admirals to discuss the current problems.

Currently, all of the Shichibukai were in attendance, save for Boa Hancock and Bartholomew Kuma (Blackbeard was no longer included as he had resigned and disappeared right after the fight). The three Admirals showed up as well, including the heavily bandaged Akainu, who seemed ashamed of his loss and always had a permanent scowl on his face.

Sengoku strode in to find the Shichibukai arguing and the three Admirals sitting quietly. Flanked by Vice-Admiral Tsuru and Doberman, he took his seat at the head of the table. Most of the chatter quieted down, and while most of the Shichibukai had a relaxed air around them, the tension in the room could be cut with a knife.

Taking out a list, Sengoku began to read it from top to bottom:

"Estimated cost of Marineford repairs: 300,000,000 Berries, estimated loss of Marine lives: 400, estimated cost of injured Marine medical bills: 45,000,000 Berries, estimated loss of pirate lives: 230."

He angrily slammed the paper down on the table, completely silencing everything. "So can you all tell me why," he yelled, "despite the deaths of Whitebeard and Ace, we still somehow come out on the losing end?!"

The entire room kept silent.

Sighing and leaning back in his chair, Sengoku continued, "The resignation of Garp won't help our image either. The thought of a major marine hero resigning has shaken the humiliated Marine image even more."

More silence in the room.

"Furthermore, with the…forced return of Shichibukai Boa Hancock to Amazon Lily under suspicions of aiding the pirates, and Blackbeard's sudden defection from the Shichibukai, paranoia has risen among the marines. Things are in major disarray, and the World Government is blaming it squarely on me. Now while I do accept my share of the blame, I think it's quite unfair to say that it's _all_ my fault."

His eyes narrowed. "Now my question is, what do you think contributed to such a massive loss of life and damage?"

It was silent until Sengoku heard Akainu mumble something under his breath. "What was that?" he asked the Admiral.

The Red Dog sighed and replied, "If you wanna know the real reason, you don't need to look any further than here." He pointed to the Shichibukai.

"What exactly are you suggesting?" Gecko Moria asked with a grimace.

Tipping his hat down even further, Akainu explained. "I'm saying we went through all of the trouble of bringing out the Shichibukai, one of our strongest military assets, and what do they do? Sit around and watch like a bunch of children staring at a fire."

"Says the guy who got his ass handed to him by the Old Man himself," Doflamingo snickered.

"What was that?!" yelled a clearly angered Akainu, slamming his fist down on the table.

"Chill man, it's just a taunt; don't let it get to you." Aokiji said, leaning back in his chair and yawning.

Kizaru decided to add his two cents by saying with a carefree smile, "You're pretty scary when you're mad Akainu."

"I think Akainu has a point," Sengoku intervened. "From what I saw, you only entered the fight when you saw you needed to or…" he looked at Doflamingo directly, "…when you thought it was the most fun."

"Fufufu."

"Sounds like you Marines are just lookin' for a proper scapegoat," Gecko Moria cut in with a laugh. "Just face it, this was due to military incompetence, nothing else."

Sengoku crossed his arms and sat further up. "What's done is done," he finally said. "I suppose there's no point in playing the blame game; after all, you Shichibukai did do your part, even if it was minor. Now the next order of business. Due to the resignation of Jimbei and Blackbeard and the current investigation and possible resignation of Boa Hancock, we need to decide on possible replacements."

"First Crocodile, and now Jimbei, Blackbeard, and Hancock; we're goin' through Shichibukai faster than toilet paper," stated a still chuckling Doflamingo.

"Yes, regardless," continued Sengoku, "it's imperative that we try and make these transitions as quick as possible to get order back in these seas. What kind of message would we be sending to the world if we can't even keep the Shichibukai together?"

"Well I'd say that wouldn't send a very good message at all."

Everyone suddenly turned around to the strange voice they just heard. They all strangely saw Victor, sitting on a couch placed in the back of the room. He looked very calm and appeared to have a permanent smirk on his face.

"Who the hell are you?!" Sengoku demanded. "How did you get in here?!"

He was suddenly right next to Sengoku as he extended his hand out in an earnest smile. "Hi, I'm Victor. Nice to meet you."

"How'd you do—"

Victor was already gone and was now behind Doflamingo, patting him on the shoulder and saying with a good-natured curious voice, "Are you really the famous Donquixote Doflamingo? I gotta say man, I respect what you do."

"I don't know how you get in here, but you have three seconds to get out before I forcibly get you out of here," Akainu threatened, turning his right arm into magma.

"Fufufufu! I like him," Donquixote chuckled. "Let's at least hear him out. Whaddya say Buddha?"

Sengoku waved a hand at Akainu. "Let him be Akainu. I'm sure Mr. Victor has come here for a reason. So tell us first off, how did you get here?"

Victor simply pointed to the open window in the adjacent wall and said, "I just went through there, simple as that."

"Impossible," Moria stated. "One of us would have seen you if you went through there."

Victor disappeared and reappeared on top of the table in front of Moria. "Now that's where you're wrong Mr. Moria. There are several things in this world that one could use to escape getting noticed."

Moria scowled and swiped a hand at him. "Get the hell away from me!"

Fortunately, Victor had already disappeared and reappeared again.

Sengoku eyed the man carefully. He looked to be old enough to know what was going on, but young enough to still have life and vitality around him. He was around five-eleven and had a slim muscular body. His face had signs of creases, mostly on his forehead and around his eyes. His mostly gray hair with a touch of dark still in it was lightly spiked in the front, showing off his entire face. He wore what a common drifter would wear, nothing that stood out, but enough to let someone know he's been around. All in all, Victor was the kind of man you normally wouldn't take a second glance at, but one could easily tell that his man had immeasurable depth.

"Since you don't seem keen on telling us," said Sengoku, "why don't you just tell us what you're here for?"

"What I'm here for?" he asked with a voice that sounded mocking.

He disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the table. "My business is that of comfort, _your_ comfort more specifically. I couldn't help but overhear after I snuck in that you are looking for someone to help…_smooth over_ the process of getting the Marines back to the power you were once at correct?"

"Correct."

Outstretching his arms, Victor walked backwards and said, "Well it just so happens that you're in luck. I am offering my services to you to help with this process. All I ask is that you accept me as one of your own; to put it in layman's terms, I want to become a Shichibukai."

"And what makes you think we'd let you join just like that?" asked a genuinely curious Kizaru, apparently amused by Victor's antics.

"Kizaru's right," added Sengoku. "I have never heard of you before; do you even have a bounty on you?"

Hopping off the table, Victor looked away and replied, "Well, no not exactly, but as I recall—" He turned around towards them, "—that didn't seem to stop you from allowing others from joining, although I suppose that position didn't long." Everyone immediately thought of Blackbeard.

"While that may be," Aokiji answered, "Blackbeard had a powerful devil fruit under his control. What exactly do you have?"

"Ah, and here in-lies the secret," Victor replied, holding an arm up. He pointed it to the wall closest to him and said, "I hope you don't mind a little more collateral damage."

Not even waiting for a response, his arm began to change into lightning as he yelled, "20 Million Volt Vari!"

Quick as a flash, lightning flew out of his arm and struck the wall almost instantaneously, leaving a massive smoldering hole where it hit. Victor scratched the back of his head and looked at Sengoku. "Sorry, I tried to limit it, but I guess I put too much oomph into it. You don't mind do you?"

Sengoku was only curious in one thing. "What devil fruit did you eat?"

"Me?" he asked, pointing to himself. "Well, I ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. It's a logia-type that allows me to turn into lightning. Pretty cool stuff, huh?"

"So that's how you got in undetected," Moria said, suddenly understanding.

"Indeed, with this power, I can travel at the speed of—" He disappeared and reappeared slightly behind where he was originally standing, "—lightning, which is basically instantaneous. Pretty convenient if I do say so myself."

He suddenly appeared behind Sengoku and got close to him. "So what do you say, Chief? Am I in? I'd be willing to do whatever you want."

"The question still comes to mind," replied The Buddha, "that we only let Blackbeard in when he was able to capture Fire Fist Ace."

"Ah, I'm way ahead of ya Chief," Victor said, as he snapped his fingers.

With that, both Tobias and Daron Arkan climbed up the window. They both seemed to be carrying several very large vertical-looking bags of some kind. They both set them down carefully in a row. With a whistle, they opened all of them, showing several pirates that have disappeared earlier and were caught on tape, including Eustass Kidd, Capone Bege, Basil Hawkins, Daz Bones, and Foxy the Silver Fox.

"I knew you would want me to do something noteworthy to show why I'm good enough for this position, so I sent my men after some of the deadliest pirates you have. Unfortunately, they're all pretty much dead; resistance and all that, you know. What do you think? Did I go a bit overboard?"

"You were able to capture all of these pirates?" questioned Sengoku in a bit of disbelief.

"Well, technically it was my men who captured them, but I coordinated the effort, yes."

Silence reigned in the room for a good while as everyone stared at the notorious pirate's bodies.

Victor just looked around and had to ask, "Soooooo, am I under consideration for the job?"

"I must say you match the criteria very well," Sengoku said. "And if you could coordinate and capture three of the Eleven Supernovas so easily, I'm sure we'll have no problem building you a reputation to be feared by."

Victor grinned his largest and said, "Well that sounds good then."

"I'll have to run it by the Gorosei first," Sengoku said, standing up, "but I believe with my recommendation, we should be able to instate you relatively quickly." He walked over to Victor and held out his hand. "I would like to thank you; you have already contributed a great deal to us, and I'm sure the Shichibukai title would be perfect for someone like yourself."

Victor gladly accepted his hand and said, "I assure you it was my pleasure to help aid the World Government."

"I must depart now," he said. "You are all dismissed, but remember, you Shichibukai are not allowed to leave the premises until I say you can; and you're gonna need to stay here for a while until we straighten this whole thing out. My men can show you to your rooms where you'll be staying."

"You mean we have to stay _here_ for possibly days," Doflamingo complained. "Man, that sucks big time!"

Sengoku ignored him and turned to Victor. "I'll have a room prepared for you and your men to stay in; Admiral Kizaru will be happy to show you to where it will be."

"Thanks Chief," he said admiringly.

"We'll be talking very soon."

With that, he left and Kizaru came up with his usual deadpan expression on his face. "Don't worry about those bodies," he said, looking at all of the pirates on the floor. "We'll have our own men clean then up. If you would please follow me."

"Of course, of course," replied the jubilant Victor.

Kizaru wouldn't know it of course, but the second he turned around, a grin appeared on Victor's face. Not the kind of grin he normally had where it was cheerful and happy, but a malicious sinister grin. The kind that would give you the chills if you say him looking at you with it.

Kizaru sensed this, and looked back with curiosity, but by the time he looked, it was already gone.

* * *

The truth behind the smile...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	13. The Sound of Music

Brook doing what he does best. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**13: The Sound of Music**

It hadn't always started out as hateful as it had been, oh no.

The Harahetternians and the Longarm Tribe had once been friends, and in fact, were once a single tribe.

Situated in Namakura Island, the tribe known as the Kortic were there longer than anyone else. They were mainly a hunter-and-gatherer type tribe that moved wherever the food went. In a sense, they were very primitive and had no real understanding of the outside world.

That is, of course, until a crew of settlers came by. They were among one of the first explorers of the Grand Line, and although they were somewhat primitive themselves compared to common day pirates and explorers, they were still years ahead of the Kortic Tribe.

The explorers were fascinated by the tribal ways of the Kortic, and sought out the leader of the tribe. There were two, as a matter of fact, Bailog and Leiov. After a conference with them, the explorers were able to explain who they were and the basis of the governmental system they came from; a monarchy.

Intrigued by this idea, Bailog and Leiov agreed to try it and the explorers, ever so ready to help, gave them the tools necessary to do such a feat. Most of which being firearms and other forms of weaponry.

After quelling some fears and insurrection, the two finally put together a Kingdom of Harahetternia (which in their language meant Long Rule), in which they could rule the people. Not long after, both almost had all of Namakura Island under their control, and the people thrived off of the plants they learned to farm from the explorers. The explorers said their farewells eventually, happy that they were successful in their mission, and left Bailog and Leiov to their business of ruling.

Problems then arose soon after.

Bailog and Leiov soon entered a power struggle. Leiov, being the older, had the foresight to see the dangers of their rule, and what the people might do after a while, and wished to return to their equal life in the ways of the tribe. Bailog, being the younger, was power-hungry and wanted to keep it at all cost. Drama went on behind the scenes, until about a year after the monarchy was formed, an angered Leiov left with a group of followers to establish a new tribe, completely separate from the Kortic Tribe.

Bailog was happy to rule alone, but through a series of bad leadership choices, Leiov turned out to be correct, as the people eventually rebelled and threw the kingdom into anarchy, utterly destroying everything that they worked for.

Leiov, who was on the other side of the island by now, caught wind of the news, and only shook his head to say, _"You should have listened, Bailog, you fool…"_

The remnants of Harahetternia are still here and its ancestors have lived on since in poverty, never finding a way to move out; they relied mostly on their farming abilities to survive, and while they get by as best they can, they aren't able to put a stable government in place, and as such, the Harahetternians continue their lives trying to get by day by day.

Leiov's tribe, on the other hand, had adapted to their new environment on the other side of the island and now had unusually long arms in order to reach food in the high trees and to help with their hunting. Although the original name of the tribe is lost, they now call themselves the Longarm Tribe.

The tensions between Bailog and Leiov still exist to this day, and as such, the two are constantly fighting with each other, and it was all started under the name of unity.

"…and that's why they stole Luria from us," explained a Harahetternian (and cultist) named Kilog to Brook the Skeleton, who was playing the piano.

"Sorry, what was that? I must have fallen asleep. Yohohohohohoho!"

"Then pay closer attention!" Kilog yelled, throwing a rock at Brook's skull.

"Oww! That would have hurt more if it just hit my skull. Oh wait, I only have a skull! Yohohohohohoho!"

Kilog sighed as he slumped back into a seat, trying to cope with Brook's bad skeleton jokes. "Look, you wanted to know why we and the Longarm Tribe have been fighting for so long, and although we don't know precisely what happened, we were able to piece together that story due to evidence and oral traditions. So now maybe you'll help us get Luria back from them. You know, the girl who showed you her panties."

"Ah of course, it would be very ungentlemanly to let the cry of a damsel in distress go unanswered," Brook said in a very dignified voice.

"Good then we should—" Kilog started.

"Right after I finish writing this Sonata…"

_"Agh! You're worthless!" _yelled an angered Kilog, throwing a much larger stone at Brook.

The blow of this rock knocked Brook out of his seat, and he lied rolling on the ground holding his hands over his face saying, "Agh! Somebody stop the bleeding, there's blood everywhere, I'm…"

"…Oh wait, I don't have any blood, yohohohohohoho!" he finished, standing upright perfectly fine.

Kilog was tempted to make another angry outburst, but kept his anger in check. "We summoned you to help us get revenge on the Longarm Tribe, and you won't even help us? What kind of demon are you anyway?"

"Oh I'm no demon, my name is Brook, and although I may not look it…I'm only eighty-eight years young!"

"_Who the fuck can tell?!"_

"Alright, relax," Brook said, getting serious now. "So why would they want to steal Luria anyway?"

"Who knows?" Kilog replied. "They've been stealing our people for ages and we never really get them back. They're probably doing some ancient old ritual or something."

"You mean you've never been able to rescue one before?"

"Unfortunately no," he explained. "Despite us used to having formidable technology, the fact of the matter is that we're poor and disorganized. Whereas the Longarm Tribe is smart, unified, and although they may not have the best technology, they make up for it by using guerilla warfare tactics to always catch us by surprise."

"I see," Brook said. "Well I hate to break it to ya, but I'm no demon. I'm just an incredibly handsome skeleton who happened to get separated from his crewmates."

"I see…" Kilog said, putting his hand to his face.

"But, I have decided to aid you as best as I can, I will risk my skin to help get this Luria back."

"Really? Well that's great. We can start with—"

"Oh wait, I have no skin! Yohohohohoho!"

_"Shut up!"_

— — —

Scratchmen Apoo, one of the Eleven Supernovas, was in a horrible mood right now. He had just landed on Namakura Island, and after fighting off some Marines and fending off storms, he had seen better days.

The crew knew better than to confront their captain, as they all knew what was ailing him and made him so hastily return from Sabaody Archipelago back to the island he was native from.

Apoo's mother, Lyndra, was dying.

She was one of the older women in the tribe, but had once been a strong and proud Longarm warrior. It was due to this that she was as healthy as she was at her age. Even the strongest bodies, however, are susceptible to disease, and the one she had was exceptionally bad. She had gotten a fever almost immediately and was losing strength by the day.

Apoo only got the news somewhat recently, and as soon as he did, he rushed back here to see his mother before she died. He had a fierce determination to get back as soon as possible, and as such, he had pushed his crew to near exhaustion just to get from one island to the next.

Now they had landed and Apoo took off was fast as he could towards where the tribe was currently settled. Apoo was the only real Longarm to make something of himself (or at least get so famous), so the Scratchmen was very well known to the entire Longarm Tribe.

If it was any other day, Apoo would have been happy to catch up, but on this day, he pushed past them without a care. "Take me to my mother now."

The current Longarm Chief granted this request and took him to the hut in which she was currently occupied in. Apoo stood outside the hut for a second, mentally preparing himself for what he was going to go through next. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and walked in.

"Hi mom…"

— — —

It had been a few hours since Apoo went in, and he had not since come out. The On Air Pirates waited patiently around the tribe's small village trying to pass the time. It was nearing night now, and at around eleven o'clock, Apoo walked out with a solemn grimace. Everyone eagerly walked around him and waited to hear him say anything.

Looking down at the ground, he simply said, "It's over…"

Everyone knew what that meant, and immediately went to console Apoo. His mood, however, dictated that he wanted to be alone with his own thoughts. Granting him his privacy, everyone left the Scratchmen alone with his thoughts.

He walked outside of the tribe's village and wandered around aimlessly. It was evident that Apoo was crying, as he tried to knock himself out of it.

"This is pathetic," he said, wiping his tears. "A pirate worth 198,000,000 Berries and here I am broken up over something so trivial…it's pathetic."

"Yohohohohohoho!"

Apoo looked to his right and saw an incredibly fast moving object running towards him. Behind the object, were a group of ragtag looking people all sprinting to try and keep up.

"Yohohohoho! Keep up if you can landlubbers!" the speeding object cheered.

"How about you slow down!" the group yelled from behind.

It looked like the object didn't know where it was going, as it rammed directly into the shocked Apoo, knocking both of them over. Brook shook his head and looked up, then looking down, he saw that he was on top of an angered Apoo.

"Oh, sorry…" was all he could say.

Apoo quickly sent Brook flying into the air yelling, "Get the hell offa me!"

Brook got back up quickly and pulled put his cane-sword. "You looking for an enemy?" he asked tauntingly.

"You picked the wrong day to mess with me," Apoo replied.

Brook leapt towards him with his sword and used several quick jabs in succession towards him. Apoo got out of his way and using his long arms, knocked Brook aside. He used this opportunity to use his devil fruit powers and turn his arm into a clarinet sending music out. "Tatakau Music: Scratch Shan Don!"

"What? That's a really nice sound," Brook said impressed.

"Shan!"

Before Brook knew it, the sound waves produced by the music cut Brooks arm

_(bone)_

and made him howl in pain. He hopped back, but Apoo was already ready. "Don!" he nearly yelled.

"Huh?!"

An explosion caught Brook in his chest, and sent him falling like a ton of bricks. Apoo used this opportunity to run over towards him to finish him off. Before he could, however, Brook was on his feet again.

"You want some more?! Well then come on—"

Before he could finish his sentence, Brook was on his hands and knees in reverence. "How are you able to produce music like that?"

"Huh?" asked a confused Apoo. "It's the power of the Sound-Sound Fruit. I use it for combat purposes."

"Well that sound you were making shouldn't be used for combat," Brook said, "it should be used for art!"

"You think so?"

"I would be honored if you were to teach me some things," Brook said, still on the ground.

Feeling strange now, Apoo looked to his side and finally said, "Get up, I'll take you to my village."

"Really?!" he said, looking up. "That would be great Mr.…?"

"Apoo, Scratchmen Apoo," he replied.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Apoo, I'm Brook."

At this point, Kilog and his group caught up. Out of breath, he bent on his knees and said, "_Huff huff!_ Who's this a—_huff_—Longarm Brook? We need to—_huff huff—_take him out before he alerts the others."

"Don't worry it's fine," Brook replied. "Me and him are friends and we're going to see his tribe right now."

"What?!"

— — —

"Well that's just—_sniff_—awful!" Brook said through his and tears. "I didn't know such a tragedy befell you; I'm truly sorry!"

Apoo looked somewhat disgusted at this display and said, "Stop your blubbering, I'm supposed to be the one doing that."

Apoo led Brook and Kilog back to the Longarm's village, and despite protests at first, the Chief allowed them to enter only because Apoo vouched for them. Kilog went to go speak to the Chief about getting Luria back while Brook talked with Apoo about his predicament.

Whipping out his violin, Brook took the bow and said, "I must compose a song to show my sorrow for you."

"That's okay," Apoo said quickly, "you don't have to—"

Apoo was cut off, however, by Brook's music, and although he would probably never admit it, he was moved by the way it sounded. He savored every second Brook moved the bow up and down the violin strings, the way the music made him feel. Before he knew it, Apoo was in tears over his mother yet again.

When Brook was finished, Apoo was crying just as badly as he was saying, "You idiot…why'dja have to go and do something like that?"

"It's alright," Brook said in a sympathetic voice. "Music has the power to bring out people's inner-emotions."

After a good few minutes, Apoo dried his tears and asked, "Where are you from exactly? I've never seen a talking skeleton before, and you're certainly not from here."

"Unfortunately, I was separated from my crew by a fellow named Kuma, I think. Before I knew it, I was sent here after flying in the air for three days straight."

"Kuma?" Apoo asked curiously. "Where exactly did you separate from?"

"Sabaody Archipelago," Brook replied.

"No shit!" he nearly yelled with surprise. "I remember that. I was fighting with Kuma and Kizaru when it happened."

"Really?!"

"Yeah! Me and my crew are gonna go back there after we clear some things up here," he said. "Gotta get to the New World and all."

Brook was then on his hands and knees again, bowing his head to the ground and saying, "Please, I would be eternally grateful if I was to go with you so I can meet with my crew again."

"Of course I'd let you go with me," Apoo said. "I already feel like we are old friends."

"Music has a way of doing that to people."

— — —

Within two days time, Apoo had informed the Chief to let Luria go, and to try and make a treaty with Kilog about their never-ending war. The Chief agreed and said that it was time to end the fighting anyway.

Kilog personally thanked Brook by shaking his hand. Brook cracked another skeleton joke, and Kilog was subsequently angered. Laughing, Brook left with Apoo that day and was now on his way back to Sabaody Archipelago.

The exact time they left was 1:37 P.M.

* * *

Another unlikely alliance.

**Updating on Thursday since I'll be busy on Friday and Saturday (again!)**

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	14. A Clockwork Crazy

Meanwhile, on Karakuri Island...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**14: A Clockwork Crazy**

There was a definite cold on the night he was born.

Not that it was exceptionally colder than any other day, but at around that exact time, meteorologists on the island noted that it dropped a few more degrees; this was perhaps a sign or premonition of things to come.

On Karakuri Island within the Future Country Barujimoa, it was a cold night on the night when Leonardo Wintfell Armadian, who would later become known as Dr. Vegapunk, was born, and although people would argue about it later, at the exact second he was born, a noticeable chill took the island in its grip.

Young Leonardo was born to a well-to-do family of engineers. His father had been an engineer, just like his grandfather and great grandfather, and his mother, while knowledgeable in the subject of science, resigned her post on the island long ago to take care of her new family. He was the second of three children; a girl had been born before him, and a boy after, yet it was quite obvious that at such a young age, that Leonardo was different from his other siblings.

Ever since he was young he had a sharp analytical mind that put his schoolmates to shame. He always got top marks (though in his younger years grades didn't account for much), and his most notable subject was that of science. He was so fascinated by it that he would read his science textbook he was given in school every night, and it showed as he was clearly ahead of his class in everything he did.

He began to tinker with mechanics when he was young, and was always trying strange experiments in his house. His parents were his main inspiration when it came to robotics (a skill that would come in handy much later in his life), and he was able to build his first mechanical dog at the age of nine.

Even in the Barujimoa Kingdom, a kingdom that was known for its immense scientific advancements and Karakuri Island, the main island that spearheaded their advancement, Leonardo was on par with the smartest minds by the time he was in his teens. Not surprisingly, his first job was that of engineering. This job, however, was not just a low-grade job of putting machines together; Leonardo was a major part of the imagination and creation team.

In short, he was the one who thought of the ideas for machines, and put together the blueprints to make them. The job paid Leonardo enough to stay alive (he was already making more than his parents as a teenager), but despite this, he wanted more.

He quit his job and created his own business (out of the house he was born in no less), simply named Vegapunk Industries, the name of an old childhood rhyme that kids sang while playing games, that Leonardo enjoyed immensely as a child

_(Late last night and the night before,  
Vegapunk, Vegapunk was knockin' on the door  
__I want to go out, don't know if I can  
__'Cause I'm so afraid of the Vegapunk man)_

it wouldn't take long before that became his title and what he was commonly known by.

His business was immensely successful as he mass-produced robotic animals that people enjoyed and before Vegapunk knew it, his business had flourished to become a monopoly on the island of Karakuri.

But despite this, he still wanted more.

It didn't take long before the World Government took notice of his exceptional scientific abilities and contacted him; he was only twenty-two at the time. They made him an offer to become one of their heads in Scientific Research and Development. They basically wanted him to make powerful weapons and discover things about the natural world that would be able to aid the Marines and extend their reach even further.

This was the kind of thing Vegapunk had been looking for. He gladly accepted it and quick as a flash, shut down his business for good, said goodbye to his family (even promising to send money to them from his new paycheck), and was gone on a marine escort ship being personally guarded by Vice-Admiral Garp himself.

Business returned to the island not too long after, but the legacy Vegapunk has left on that island was still around when Franky landed on the island of Karakuri.

After Kuma sent him flying for three days and nights, Franky's rage was slowly going down as he learned to accept the condition he was in. As soon as he landed, however, he noticed two things. The first was that this island was immensely cold (he immediately discerned it as a winter island), and the second was that something was shooting at him.

The blast didn't hurt him much, but he did hear what sounded like a young boy yell, _"Stop! Taroimo!"_

Two people then approached him, an old man named Walon, and what looked to be his son or grandson named Kitton; the thing that shot at him was mechanical dog #28 (a very popular model when sold by Vegapunk Industries) known as Taroimo.

The two people fussed to Franky about how he wasn't wearing much and that he would catch a cold, even offering him a loin cloth to cover up in. Franky flatly refused, simply because he was unaffected by the cold anyways, but more importantly he refused it because he thought he would look ridiculous wearing such a thing.

After doing a quick choreographed dance with the two people, they brought him back to their house and finally explained where he was and who they were. They explained that he was in the Grand Line on a technologically advanced (albeit cold) island. Franky accepted it, knowing there was nothing else he could do, but he would be damned if he wouldn't do something about leaving this place.

He asked how to leave, and Walon and Kitton explained that the best way to leave was by boat, but those cost quite a bit. Franky, having no money on him, decided it would be best to build his own boat, and subsequently asked where he could use

_(steal)_

some parts to make one.

_"You should go check out the old Vegapunk building," _Walon had suggested, and there was where Franky set off to. Taroimo had grown quite attached to him, however, and decided to follow him wherever he went.

Franky had thought that it would be easy to get to Vegapunk Industries shut down building, but, as he would soon find out, it wasn't as easy as he had anticipated.

After Vegapunk Industries shut down, all of the mechanical animals they had build were switched off and left alone for good. Although people aren't quite sure of who did it, someone broke in and turned all of the animals back on, and as such, they ran amok in the area (probably killing the person who turned them on) and have been guarding the general area ever since.

This turned out to be a bad thing to Franky, as killer mechanical apes, snakes, stag beetles, and lions were all chasing after him. Taroimo helped quite a bit with his built in weaponry and, with a little help from Franky himself, Franky and him were able to escape from harm.

Now, Franky and Taroimo were standing outside of Vegapunk Industries hastily shut down building with barred doors and a very evident sign saying: **Keep Out!**

Rubbing his arms, Franky took one look and said, "Hmm, it doesn't look like this is a place to build a ship outta lumber; I'm gonna have to figure out how to do it with whatever materials they got in here."

Walking close to the door, he cocked his fist back and simply smiled, "Nothin' ventured, nothin' gained. Strong Right!"

The door easily gave way to Franky's powerful hit and Franky was now peering into the darkness. Taroimo barked to get his attention.

"I know, I know," he said, looking down at the machine, "it looks pretty eerie, but if we don't look inside, I'll never get off this island."

Taroimo barked with approval and Franky nodded, stepping inside.

What he found was pretty much what he expected. Conveyer belts full of materials used to make all matter of machinery that the grunts probably stood at all day and mindlessly put together.

"So this is the area the guy who made Kuma got his start at, eh? I gotta say, I'm pretty under-whelmed."

Taroimo barked.

He went to the conveyer belt and inspected the metal. _"Prime stuff," _he thought as he picked up another piece and inspected it.

A small smile formed on Franky's face as he knew he could work with all of the materials around him.

— — —

The following schedule for Franky in the next few days went as follows:

1. Wake up at Walon and Kitton's house  
2. Eat breakfast  
3. Leave the house with Taroimo to go work on the ship  
4. Fight off more mechanical animals (although at this point they were getting discouraged)  
5. Steal the materials necessary from Vegapunk Industries  
6. Work on the ship until sundown  
7. Return to Walon and Kitton's house and eat dinner  
8. Go to bed

Franky did not stray from this schedule for the next four days as he committed himself wholly to making his new ship. He found, surprisingly, that using metal to make the ship wasn't necessarily a bad thing. All he had to do was make sure that it was hollowed out enough so it wouldn't sink with the unnecessary weight (much like a galleon, only more precautions were needed).

Furthermore, he discovered the blueprints in the building of what looked like a motor. Franky was fascinated by this and immediately set to work on it; all the materials were there, it was only a matter of putting two and two together (which Franky was extremely good at).

It took him three quarters of the day to build a rudimentary motor. Franky knew he could do better, but given the time constraints, he knew he would have to deal with that for now.

Smiling, he showed the motor to Taroimo, who simply barked, and was able to connect it to the ship with ease. Franky smiled as he thought it was as easy as putting a piece into a watch.

— — —

On the fifth day, Franky found himself standing by the shore of Karakuri Island with Walon, Kitton, and Taroimo standing by him.

He had finished the ship on the fourth day, and while it was only slightly larger than a dinghy, Franky was happy with his results, believing it could take him to where he needed to go. When he was finished, he had christened it _Clockwork_, and knew he would have to put it in as a part of the _Thousand Sunny_ at some point.

Franky held out his hand to Walon and Kitton saying, "I don't know how to thank you, but thanks for taking me in and feeding me for a few days."

"It was our pleasure," Walon smiled, grasping his hand. "Good luck on your journey."

"Umm…Mr. Franky," Kitton asked timidly.

"Yeah?"

"How exactly do you plan to get to Sabaody Archipelago?" he questioned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, do you have a log pose to use?"

Franky stood silent for a moment, only staring blankly.

"Ah shit!" he almost yelled, gripping his head. "I completely forgot about a log pose; what am I gonna do now?"

Walon smiled and replied, "Don't worry, lucky for you Taroimo here has a log pose built into him, dontcha boy?"

Taroimo barked.

Franky blinked. "You mean you'd be fine with me taking Taroimo?"

"Of course," continued to smile Walon. "He's clearly taken a liking to you and we trust you to take the utmost care of him."

"Guys…" Franky said as the emotions got to him.

He quickly turned away, and after a second, Kitton asked, "Uhh, Mr. Franky, are you okay?"

"Of course!" he yelled. "I'm certainly not crying or anything!" He wiped his face and turned back around. "I was just thinking about something else, that's all."

Neither of them bought it, but they didn't press the matter.

"Well, it's time to get going," Franky said, stepping on _Clockwork_. "Come on Taroimo!"

Taroimo yelped happily as he hopped on board right behind him. Franky pushed off as the boat slowly drifted away from the island. When the distance was getting bigger, Walon and Kitton waved heartily yelling, "Goodbye Franky! Have a safe trip! I hope you see your crewmates soon!"

Franky sniffed as he felt a new wave of tears. He didn't attempt to hide them as he just yelled back, "I'll never forget you guys! Thanks for everything!"

Taroimo barked joyously as a last farewell to his previous owners.

When Franky was away in the distance, Walon said to Kitton, "You should look up to and aspire to be someone like Franky, and when the time is right, don't be afraid to show your emotions."

Kitton wiped a tear away from his eyes and simply answered, "Yes!"

* * *

Off he departs with a new friend.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	15. The Men Who Would Be Kings

A Meeting with the Gorosei. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**15: The Men Who Would be Kings**

There are two ways in which one can become a Shichibukai.

The first way (and perhaps the easiest way) is for the World Government to recognize a pirate's talent and offer them a position to join their ranks. This is accomplished when a pirate gets a big enough bounty and becomes extremely dangerous and the World Government would rather have them as an ally instead of an enemy, or when they have a particularly deadly power, or when the Gorosei themselves choose a pirate they think may be a threat in the foreseeable future.

The second is that the pirate themselves meet with one of the top brass in the World Government and make a recommendation themselves. This technique is only viable when a current Shichibukai loses their status and a pirate is quick enough to get himself noticed before a new one is picked. Usually, they do not accomplish their goal.

In fact, only two pirates have ever become a Shichibukai through this method. This first was Marshall D. Teach, more commonly known as Blackbeard, and the second was Victor.

Victor stood in the room of the Gorosei with Sengoku, the three admirals, and all of the current Shichibukai (minus Hancock and Kuma) at his side. Sengoku did as he had promised and talked to the five elders before doing anything (even though the only way to become a Shichibukai was through the approval of the Gorosei), and while skeptical at first, after witnessing Victor's skills and achievements personally (along with the recommendation from Sengoku), they had agreed.

Sengoku entered Victor's room to let him know the good news, only to find him sleeping soundlessly on his bed. Slightly unsure as to what to do, Sengoku went over and lightly shook him.

Victor had always been a very light sleeper ever since he was a child; it was what he used as somewhat of a defense mechanism in case anything every tried to sneak up on him. Due to his tough life earlier, every time he was woken up, it usually meant something bad, and this time was no exception.

Victor's eyes immediately shot open, as a menacing look appeared on his face. Sengoku could never be sure, but he thought that for the split second Victor awoke, he saw his true face, and it was not pleasant. It was a face of grimace and disgust; the kind of face where if a child saw it only for a second, they would go running in the opposite direction calling for their parents. It showed no kindness, and only malice, with what looked like a complete lack of respect for any authority. In short, it was a look you didn't want to be on the receiving end of.

Quick as flash, however, it was gone, and Victor's face returned to how it normally was. Letting loose a massive yawn, Victor sat up and scratched the back of his head in a sleepy manner.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Uh, you've been reviewed over by the Gorosei," Sengoku started, "and they have approved of it."

Victor smiled an honest smile. "That's great! So now what?"

"Well, now you have to appear before the Gorosei, with all of the admirals and Shichibukai in attendance, and there you take your pledge of loyalty to always faithfully serve the World Government."

"Sounds tedious," Victor said with a glum expression. "Can't we just skip all the formalities?"

Sengoku couldn't help but grin at Victor's honesty with the whole situation. "Can't be helped," he replied. "Have to make it official and all. I'm sure you understand."

Letting loose another yawn, Victor just said, "Yeah, I guess I do."

Sengoku turned to leave saying with his last statement, "We'll meet you at the Gorosei's chambers. Be there as soon as possible."

Victor threw up a salute and said, "Yes sir!"

As soon as Sengoku left, Victor got up and began to hum a happy tune to himself. He moved around his room with an air of smugness as he got ready to go. Victor was so elated that he began to recite a little rhyme that he learned when he was much much younger:

_"While we're running in our circles,  
__And falling in our rhymes,  
__We find that we're losing ourselves  
__In these dark times…"_

"You seem pretty happy."

Victor turned around to see Daron Arkan the Marauder, the man who had captured Foxy the Silver Fox for Victor, sitting on his windowsill.

"I really wish you didn't enter like that," Victor replied with a cheerful expression. "It really is rude and unnecessary. Why don't you use the door like civilized people?"

"You outta all people should know that I ain't civilized!" He hopped from the window onto the ground. "So I heard the big news. Congratulations, Shichibukai."

"Why thank you, I do believe thing are going smoother than planned though."

"You're tellin' me!" Daron replied with a laugh. "Who knew it was so easy to become a Shichibukai; just don't let it go to waste, you hear?"

Victor took a few steps away from his companion and simply replied, "Don't worry about me; I know exactly what I'm doing."

Yawning, Daron's voice began to lose its power. "Well that's good to hear, but it's nice to have a government appointed official as our leader now, don't you think?"

"Indeed," Victor replied with a grin. "I think a celebration will be in order later, why don't you…"

Daron didn't care about what he said as he plopped down on Victor's bed and began to snore. "…use my bed without my permission," finished a sighing Victor. After seeing he wouldn't wake up anytime soon, he just finished, "I certainly hope you won't be here by the time I get back, or things might get…unpleasant."

Chuckling to himself, Victor walked out of his room and closed the door quietly so as not to wake the sleeping Daron.

— — —

The Gorosei themselves had been around ever since the formation of the World Government all those years ago. It was quite simple how the first five came into power: they were the ones that thought the entire idea up.

It all started with a meeting between twenty relatively old men, all of which were immensely successful in different areas of expertise. Back when they were around, the world was a wild age where nothing was a certainty. No one knows for certain who came up with the concept of a World Government ruling over everything. It was certainly a radical change for one world power to unite all of the squabbling kingdoms within the entire world (and there were certainly a lot of them), but twenty of the greatest minds put their heads together, and were able to put out a rudimentary form of government within their own country.

Fortunately, one of the twenty men was the head of that particular country's military unit, and as such, they used their new form of government to take over the country closest to them. They continued on this conquest with a new form of global imperialism, and soon enough, more than half of the world was under the government's (then called the Grand Government) control.

Unfortunately, most of the original twenty men were dead at this time, and their heirs were the ones that took control (although over time, only five of the descendents would become the prominent members of the Gorosei). Since the government became so big, they broke it up into sections of military and political, so things would be easier to manage.

Within the military branch, it at first only consisted of the Marines, and in the marines was a long system of ranking, with the Fleet Admiral on top, a number of Admirals next, then a number of Vice-Admirals, and so on…

More recently than now, the World Government allowed the Marines to branch out into another groups, that of being the Shichibukai. They were created as a direct contrast to the formation of the Yonko, who are the four emperors in the New World; they would soon become known as the Three Great Powers in the ocean. Although the World Government depends on all three in order to keep a balance of power, they still have a tough job to do, keeping track of all of the countries under the World Government's jurisdiction.

They also thought ahead and decided that in order to avoid tensions, they allowed the old system of government (most of them monarchies) to stay in control, not participating in their internal affairs (for the most part); they even allowed what they called the Counsel of Kings twice every year, when all the leaders of government meet to discuss and collaborate in various issues.

This move is seen as a stroke of genius, as it not only keeps the World Government out of direct blame on anything that happens, but still allows them to have control over the country; this is also vital in stopping any kind of rebellion in the making, as it makes the World Government almost seem like a ghost that doesn't exist.

And ruling at the top of this all-powerful organization since its humble beginnings has been the Gorosei.

The only way to become a Gorosei is for the former Gorosei to elect the new generation. Usually they elect those who were highly-decorated Marine veterans, or those that have quick wit and insight on how to run a government. Regardless, the current Gorosei have been ruling over the government for years, and have largely remained a mystery to all.

And now Victor, who was flanked by the Admirals and Shichibukai, was standing before these mysterious five.

Not knowing their names, Victor only went by their appearances. The bald one with dark skin and who was always carrying a sword spoke first.

"It has been brought to our attention from Fleet Admiral Sengoku that you wish to become a Shichibukai. Is that true?"

"Uh…yes…" Victor responded, clearly a little nervous.

The Gorosei who always wore a black hat said, "You are aware of the dealings Shichibukai have to do, correct? You are to listen to direct orders from the World Government, and do exactly as we say. In return, we get rid of your bounty and turn a blind eye to most of your dealings."

"W-Well, that's fine; I don't even have a bounty to begin with, ha ha ha…" Victor nervously laughed. When seeing that his joke didn't go over well, he got quiet.

The youngest looking Gorosei (evidenced only by the fact that he didn't have gray hair and wrinkled skin) said with a cold voice, "If you understand these rules, then please get down on one knee and recite what I say. 'I do solemnly swear…' "

Victor gulped visibly. "I _duh-duh-_do solemnly swear…"

" 'To always listen to the World Government's orders and never question what they say…' "

"To always listen to the World Government's orders and _nuh-_never question what they say…"

" 'On pain of death…' "

"Excuse me?"

" 'On pain of death…' " he repeated, clearly not amused.

"On pain of death…"

"You may now rise."

Victor stood up and stared at the Gorosei; sweat was visibly showing on him. One of the older looking Gorosei with a large twirled moustache and a large visible birthmark on his forehead smiled and said, "Congratulations Mr. Victor, you are now a full-fledged member of the Shichibukai."

"Oh, thank you…" he said in a bit of disbelief.

"We hope you will become a great asset to us in the future, but for now, you are all dismissed; good day."

Everyone left the Gorosei's chambers, as Victor exhaled a sigh of relief. Donquixote Doflamingo appeared behind him and slapped him on the back. "Fufufu! Pretty good there new guy. Allow me to now officially welcome you to the Shichibukai."

"Thanks," he said, and looked up at Doflamingo with a smile.

"What's up?" he asked, sensing he had a question.

"Oh, well, I was just thinking…"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I may not understand this, since I'm not a pirate myself, but I was just wondering with that pledge…someone usually becomes a pirate for freedom right?"

"Yeah…"

Taking a few seconds, Victor swallowed hard and finished, "So why is it that all of you are so okay with taking orders as they put it 'without defiance or question'?"

Donquixote opened his mouth, but then closed it, realizing he had no definite answer to that question.

* * *

An official Shichibukai...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	16. The Isle of Danger

Meeting at a familiar island. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**16: The Isle of Danger**

Sanji was feeling like he went from the oven and into the frying pan (so to speak).

He truly was grateful to get off out of the Kamabakka Kingdom, but needless to say he wished he would be with someone a little less…like an okama (or newkama, as Ivankov so elegantly put it). It didn't take long for Sanji to realize why Ivankov was known as the "Queen" of the Kingdom, and he had some evidence to back this claim up.

Number one: Ivankov in no way, shape, or form, allowed Sanji to take off the dress he was wearing when he met him. He tried several times to ask for a change of clothes (a suit was preferable), but Ivankov refused, saying it brought out his "womanly features."

Number two: Ivankov vehemently kept insisting that he used the power of his Horm-Horm Fruit (which he was able to explain to Sanji before trying to change him) to make him into a woman.

Now while Sanji respected this devil fruit on some level, seeing as how he was able to turn men into women (and Sanji was okay with that as long as he didn't know they were men before changed), but he in absolutely no way wanted to change himself into a woman. Sanji was a woman-_chaser_, not an actual woman. To make him as such would strip away his manhood and everything Sanji stood for.

Unfortunately, Ivankov didn't listen to Sanji's impassioned speech as she tried to inject him with estrogen anyways. This engaged in a massive chase around Ivankov's ship, and Sanji quickly ran out of breath and was forced to hide. Fortunately for him, Ivankov was terrible at finding things, and eventually gave up.

Sanji sighed as he leaned against the wall he was hiding on and lit himself a cigarette. He and Ivankov had talked about a good number of things before he agreed to take Sanji back to Sabaody Archipelago. The first thing Sanji questioned was Ivankov's motivation, but he assured "San-Boy" as he called him (which Sanji himself loathed) that he was doing it because he knew "Straw-Boy" and wanted to help out his friends. Sanji could tell there was some truth to it, but felt that there was also another motive that he was hiding.

Asking how Ivankov knew Luffy, he explained the entire ordeal to Sanji. How Luffy got locked up at Impel Down to save his brother Ace, how he was poisoned severely by Warden Magellan, how Ivankov saved his life, how Mr. 2 Bon Clay played the biggest part in letting them out, and how they both fought together at Marineford and were both able to escape. Sanji couldn't help but feel like Ivankov was leaving something out,

_("Fire-Fist" and "World's Strongest")_

but he ultimately decided not to press the issue.

Long story short, Ivankov told Sanji he would get him to where he needed to go, but there was a problem.

While being a great navigator and having a log pose, Ivankov lacked an eternal pose to Sabaody Archipelago. This worried Sanji to a degree, but Ivankov assured him that they should be able to get an eternal pose at the next island they have to "log" at.

Finally, when Sanji asked where Ivankov's loyalties lie, he kept quiet and simply said: _"You'll find out in good time San-Boy, you'll find out in good time…"_

Sanji knocked his head lightly against the wall, his cigarette smoke floating upward at a lazy pace. _"Can he really be trusted?"_ he wondered. He decided it made no difference now, as Sanji was already stuck in the middle of the ocean with him.

Sanji supposed he had hid himself long enough, standing up, he did a quick little stretched and really wish he had his old clothes right now. Oh well; nothing can be done about that.

He walked out onto the front deck to see a sight that he wanted to see, and didn't want to see at the same time. It appeared that there was a massive party going on the deck of the ship. There was a massive quantity of food, drink, music, and all around fun going on. All of the newkamas were enjoying themselves and Ivankov was the life of the party.

"Ah, San-Boy!" Ivankov nearly yelled. "How nice of you to finally join us!"

"May I ask what you're celebrating?" asked Sanji in a curious manner.

Ivankov did a little chuckle and replied, "As if newkamas ever need a reason to party! But if you do need a reason, I'd say it's because ve're getting close to our next destination vhere ve vill purchase the eternal pose necessary to get to Sabaody!"

"I see," Sanji said, inching forward. He had to admit, the food did look tantalizing.

He picked up some kind of foreign delicacy and munched on it. Much to his delight, it tasted delicious. Sanji mentally reminded himself to ask whoever cooked this for their recipe later.

"Join in the fun San-Boy!" yelled Ivankov. "You don't need to be a newkama to party!"

Letting out a little laugh, Sanji replied, "No, I guess not."

He needed to relax, and this party atmosphere was just what he needed to get his mind off of things. Soon, he would be able to get an eternal pose to get back to his crew faster. Laughing, Sanji joined in all of the festivities.

It didn't take long for him to forget that he still had a dress on.

— — —

Although Zoro would never admit it, Nami really was helping to speed things alone. She was able to replace that dreadful navigator on _The Happy Sea Lion_ and as such, they were able to avoid storms, whirlpools, tsunamis, and a plethora of other natural disasters that would have been death to the crew and Zoro if they stayed on their course. The only downside to this was that Nami thought of herself as the captain and leader of the crew, and Zoro didn't much care for getting bossed around.

Zoro was taking a nap on the deck of the ship while Nami was staring at her log pose to find out where to go next on the second level of the ship. His light snores filled the air as a pleasant breeze came by. It was a beautiful day, and it was largely going unnoticed due to the amount of work going on by the crew (as dictated by Nami of course).

"Damn it," Nami said to herself quietly. "We're gonna have to log onto each island on our way to Sabaody, and who knows how long that will take. I just hope the island the log pose is leading us to doesn't take long to log, or else we might be delaying the crew even more."

While Nami was mulling these things over in her mind, Zoro's snores began to come to her notice. It didn't take long before she became extremely annoyed and threw the nearest item towards Zoro, which happened to be an oar. It landed right on Zoro's chest, causing him to make an "_Ooph!_" sound. His eyes sprang open and he clutched his aching chest.

He immediately looked up at Nami and asked, "What the hell?!"

"Your sleeping was getting on my nerves," she replied in a casual tone. "It's a waste to have a strong man such as yourself sleeping when you could be put to good use."

" 'Put to good use'?" Zoro repeated. "You've got all of the ends covered by using these guys as practical slave labor." He looked over at Captain Sea Lion, who happened to be raising a sail and continued, "Ain't that right Captain?"

Sea Lion looked at Zoro with fear, and then looked at Nami with an even bigger fear. He furiously shook his head and went about his work, looking down at the ground. Nami smiled at this. "See?"

"Whatever…" Zoro said, folding his arms behind his head. "I'm going back to sleep."

"No you're not," she said, skipping down the stairs down to the deck. "According to the log pose, we're coming upon an island soon, and I'm gonna need some protection if this island turns out to be hostile."

"Why don't you get one of your slaves to do it?" asked a grumpy Zoro, trying to close his eyes.

Nami responded to this by stepping on his stomach in a swift deft motion. "Because they're too weak to protect the likes of me," she answered. "I'm a woman, and therefore I'm too delicate for the likes of them."

"Yeah, you sure are delicate," Zoro replied, rubbing his now throbbing stomach. "Fine, how about you let me sleep until you see the island, and then I'll 'protect you' if you want."

"Fine," she said, and she began to walk away.

She stopped in her tracks when she and Zoro both heard strange music getting closer to them. Both curious, they craned their necks into the direction it was coming from, and off in the distance they were able to see a ship.

"Wonder who that is…" Zoro said with a yawn. "Hope they're allies."

Nami grimaced and replied, "They're probably pirates wanting to take our ship."

"Then why the hell would they be playing loud music to alert us to their presence?"

Nami looked angrily at Zoro, but didn't offer an answer. She got out a pair of binoculars and tried to get a closer look at the ship. What she saw didn't unnerve her, but it did make her confused. She shook Zoro's shoulder, causing him to ask what in an annoyed manner.

"What is that?" she asked, handing Zoro the binoculars.

Zoro took them and looked at the ship. He was then struck with the same kind of expression Nami had. On the front of the ship, it looked like there was a massive party going on. While this in itself wasn't a strange occurrence to come by, the thing that made it strange was that there was a man (at least he thought it was a man) with a massive head on the tip of the ship, doing strange dance moves and yelling things Zoro had never heard before.

"I have no idea," he answered, continuing to stare at the strange scene. Then he noticed something. "They're comin' on us fast, and it looks like they're not paying a lot of attention to where they're going, if they continue at this, won't they…?"

Nami knew what he meant and immediately ran onto the upper-deck to rap out orders. "Hard to starboard quickly! We have a ship that will hit our broadside if we don't move. Hop to it!"

It took a while for the pirates to understand, but with a little more yelling from Nami, they got to working quickly. Unfortunately, the other ship was coming too fast, and before anyone knew it, the tip of the ship scraped the end of _The Happy Sea Lion_, causing a shock on both ship.

"Vhat vas that?" they heard from the other ship.

Ivankov and Sanji peered over the edge of their ship and saw Zoro and Nami standing bewildered at this sight. Zoro, Nami, and Sanji recognized each other immediately and called out. Sanji was apparently overjoyed at the sight of two of his crewmates, and after Sanji waved them aboard, Zoro and Nami hopped aboard Ivankov's ship.

"You guys can go now!" Nami said to the pirates of _The Happy Sea Lion_. "Thanks for all of your help!"

The pirates just stood there bewildered and not knowing what to do as Zoro and Nami disappeared from sight.

"I can't believe it's really you!" Sanji said. "Especially running into you Nami, it's like a dream come true!"

"What's with the dress?" Zoro asked, looking at Sanji's attire.

Sanji was clearly embarrassed as he tried to cover up and make excuses, causing Nami to chuckle. Ivankov then bumped in and shook both of their hands. "Hi, I'm Ivankov, nice to meet you."

"Uh…hi," Nami said.

"You know," Ivankov addressed Nami. "You would make a fine man. Do you want me to make you one?"

"Uh…no thanks…" a clearly confused Nami said.

After a while, the ship got moving again and they all sat down to have a talk. Sanji introduced Ivankov, and they all explained their stories together. Their talking time was cut short, unfortunately, as a newkama from the crows nest bellowed, _"LAND HOOO!"_

Everyone was up on their feet immediately and peered over the edge to see what kind of land they were going to. It was still far away, and Nami took out her binoculars again and looked. The only thing she said was, "What's with all of the marine ships?"

"Vhat?!" asked Ivankov, forcefully taking the binoculars from Nami.

Sure enough, the island they were on was surrounded by marine ships. Strangely though, it did not look like a marine base. Rather, the ships were surrounding the island in what looked to be an attempt to stop people from entering and leaving.

The ship was immediately ordered to stop so they could take a better look at their surroundings first. They discussed that the marines were most likely blockading the island and that they would have to sneak in and leave the ship here. Everyone agreed upon that, and Zoro took the binoculars and looked himself.

He almost yelled at what he saw. There was no way he could be mistaken with something like this. Parked right by the marine ships, was Benjamin McAllister's ship. He had finally caught up with him!

"What island is this exactly?" Nami asked Ivankov.

He stared grim-faced and simply replied, "This is Amazon Lily, the island of women!"

* * *

There and back again...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	17. The Isle of Danger 2: Peril in Paradise

The Adventure on the Isle of Women continues. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**17: The Isle of Danger 2- Peril in Paradise**

After the Battle of Marineford (as it was later known to be called), Boa Hancock was in constant worry. Not for her own safety, but rather, that she was unsure of what happened to Luffy. The last she saw of him was Jimbei carrying him away from Akainu after he looked to have become comatose from shock.

Hancock saw it all, and as soon as that happened, Commodore Smoker forgot his fight with her (which she thought she was winning) and rushed away to get closer to the action yelling "Straw Hat!"

After that, Blackbeard arrived and all hell broke loose as Whitebeard finally got the axe from Sengoku. None of this concerned Hancock; she was far too concerned about Luffy's condition. Knowing there was no way to tell, she resigned to the unknown and returned with the rest of the Shichibukai to Mariejois. She was given her own private room and was told that her, along with the rest of the Shichibukai, were to remain at the capitol until several orders of business were taken care of.

It only took about half a day before a knock came on her door. She opened it to see Sengoku and two vice-admirals, flanked by several marines. She was told by Sengoku that she was suspected of treason against the World Government, and even though he didn't say where the proof was from, Hancock knew that Smoker had given it to them.

She was clasped with seastone cuffs and told that she would be escorted by Vice-Admirals Onigumo and Yamakaji back to her island of Amazon Lily where the island would be under constant watch by the marines until the higher-ups decided whether to pull her Shichibukai title or not. Hancock knew that there was nothing she could so, so she allowed herself to be taken back to the island, and has been there ever since.

Now, she sat in her throne in her palace, trying to go about business as she had been. The marines haven't imposed their selves on the island, simply surrounded it with their ships, patiently awaiting orders. Hancock didn't care particularly for her title as Shichibukai (she never really did), but regardless of this current crisis happening, she couldn't stop thinking about Luffy.

_"He looked so defeated…"_ she thought listlessly, staring idly to her left.

She tried to tell herself to stop thinking about that man, and she was successful for a time, but after about a minute, she would find herself slipping back into that single thought…

— — —

Benjamin McAllister remembered his orders very clearly.

_"You are first to capture that Perona, but watch out for that Roronoa Zoro." Victor had told him. "Then you are to follow your log pose to Amazon Lily."_

_"And why would I be doin' that, partner?" Benjamin had inquired curiously._

_Victor grinned at him. "Recent news has come to my attention that Boa Hancock, one of the Shichibukai, has been forcefully escorted back to Amazon Lily and is now guarded by the Marines. I want you to capture her and bring her back as well."_

_"If you don't mind me asking partner," Benjamin had curiously stated, "why would you be wanting the power of the Love-Love Fruit? You're not all that appealin' to look at, if you catch my drift."_

_Victor comically responded by shouting, "That's none of your concern! Just do it! You hear?!"_

_Benjamin quickly ducked out of the room saying, "Yeah, yeah, I hear ya partner…"_

He was careful to bring his boat up in an official manner by the other marine ships, causing them to notice him, but not in a threatening way.

_"Due to your previous…experience with the marines," Victor had told him on a den-den mushi they used to keep in contact, "you're absolutely perfect for this mission."_

He left Perona (she was knocked out cold) in his ship while he went out on the deck and as loud as possible, yawned and stretched his arms.

He had changed his cap for one that had the Marines symbol on it, and had buttoned up his suit to look more official. His nodachi was still dangerously clad on the side of him; a pack was visible hanging lazily on his back. He looked every inch the high-ranking marine official.

A few low-ranking ones took notice of him and called to him. As a matter of course, they had their guns trained on him while yelling, "Who the hell are you?!"

"Why hello there!" yelled Benjamin in a somewhat cheerful tone. "I come straight from Mariejois under direct orders from Fleet-Admiral Sengoku himself. May I come up?"

The marines talked quietly amongst themselves and eventually one shouted, "How can we be sure that you're a marine?"

Benjamin grinned wolfishly as he used Soru to get up on the deck where the marines were. Immediately, they had their guns and swords trained on him. He held his arms out to show he was unarmed and said, "Would a marine be able to use Rokushiki like I can?"

The marines appeared confused and looked as if they didn't know what to do. Benjamin looked understanding and said in a calm voice, "Look, you clearly don't know how to handle this. So how about one of you goes and gets your highest-ranking officer while the rest of you watch me. Once he gets here, the problem is no longer yours. Deal?"

After a few seconds, one of the marines was chosen as he scurried off to find the nearest vice-admiral. Within a few minutes, Vice-Admiral Yamakaji showed up with his always-present smile on his face, his cigar smoke drifting upward.

_"Good, no one I remember…" _Benjamin thought.

"Thank you men, you are dismissed," Yamakaji said. The marines were all-too happy to oblige to that order.

When they were gone, Yamakaji lazily walked closer to Benjamin and said politely, "Please forgive my men for not knowing how to handle the situation; they're what we would call greenhorns, scared shitless to be on such a mission."

Benjamin let out a hearty laugh and said, "I know how that feels! We were all greenhorns at some point."

"I guess that's true," he replied bluntly. "Now what are you hear fore exactly, Mr.…?"

"Kirin," Benjamin lied smoothly. "Commodore Jacqueline Kirin. Pleased to meet your acquaintance." He held out his hand.

Yamakaji took his hand and responded, "I'm Vice-Admiral Yamakaji. Me and Vice-Admiral Onigumo are heading this mission. If you don't mind me asking Mr. Kirin, but I've never heard of you before…"

"Not many people have," he said, quick as polished silver. "I was just a Captain in the West Blue until a few days ago. I guess due to my record of capturing pirates, I was promoted to Commodore and was ordered to come to the Grand Line. Unfortunately, I came in the aftermath of the Marineford fight…"

"Yet my men tell me that you know some Rokushiki," interrogated Yamakaji. "Only Vice-Admirals and a few select people know how to use that."

"Well we often went to Cipher Pol 4, and I got very close to one of them. I believe his name was Joshua…something. Anyway, he only taught me the basics and so far I've only been able to accomplish Soru, although I'm sure it's nowhere near Vice-Admiral level."

Yamakaji sucked in his cigar smoke and wondered for a second. "I'm sorry, but I still haven't heard of you or this promotion so—"

"Not that I blame you," Benjamin said, cutting him off. "It's been hell the last few days for the Marines and the World Government in general, and a lot of changes have been made; did you know we found a new Shichibukai to replace Jimbei?"

After a second, he responded, "No, I'm afraid I haven't. Anyways…I'm going to have to check with the marines on this for verification on your rank. After I've verified, I'll get Onigumo and you can share with us your urgent message."

"Of course, take your time."

Yamakaji ordered Benjamin to be watched as he walked into a cabin on the ship. _"Sure as hell hope Victor has been able to slip in those fake papers since he's become a Shichibukai,"_ Benjamin thought morbidly. _"If not, I'm going to have to fight my way outta here…"_

After a few minutes had passed (it felt like an eternity for the skeptical Benjamin), Yamakaji had returned along with Vice-Admiral Onigumo. The guards were dismissed as the two men approached him.

Onigumo thought he had seen Benjamin's face before, but couldn't put his finger on it as he let the thought slide.

"Well Commodore Kirin," Yamakaji said with his smile, "it's all been worked out; the marines did verify your rank and that you are indeed a marine."

"That's good," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. Then jokingly: "I sure wouldn't want to get on your guys bad side. Ha ha ha…"

Onigumo, however, was in no time for humor, as waiting here for a few days was already trying his patience. "You said you had a message to give us. I'm not sure why they didn't just tell us on the den-den mushi though…"

"The higher-ups said they wanted me to get some experience on the field," replied a smiling Benjamin. "But could we find a more comfortable place to speak; standing up all this time is making me get a bit restless."

Yamakaji finished his cigar as he spat it out and said, "Of course, follow us; there's a couch and tea in my personal room…"

— — —

_"OOOOH! An island full of only women?!" Sanji swooned, his eyes turning into hearts. "Sounds like a paradise!"_

_"Hmph, an island vhere there's only women instead of men who dress like women," Ivankov stated, cross his arms, "this place ain't no paradise!"_

_"Shut up your weird okama freak!" Sanji roared back. "For normal healthy men, this place is a paradise!"_

_"Only for you, you lovesick fool…" Zoro sighed._

_"What was that Marimo?!"_

_"Enough!" Nami yelled, getting order back. "Let's focus on the problem, shall we?"_

_"Right!" Ivankov said. "Normally you can do vhatever you want on my ship, you can even eat my food right off my plate…"_

_"Right…well we have to—" Nami started._

_"BUT YOU'D BETTER NOT!" Ivankov roared, cutting her off._

_"Focus!" she yelled, throwing a chair at Ivankov and the currently fighting Zoro and Sanji…_

_"Look," Nami said, leaning back in her chair. "From what it looks like, this island isn't that advanced, so I doubt there'd be an area where they sell an eternal pose to Sabaody."_

_"That's not the only problem," Ivankov said._

_"Whaddya mean?"_

_Ivankov sighed as he explained: "Vhen I vas vith Straw-Boy at Marineford, one of the Shichibukai by the name of Boa Hancock had apparently fallen for him, and so she fought against the marines to help us out."_

_"What?! Someone has fallen for Luffy?" all three said simultaneously._

_Ivankov nodded and waited for everyone to settle down (even after Sanji and Nami took some bets as to what she looks like). "Anyvay…" he continued, "I'd suspect that the Marines accuse her of treason and are most likely holding her up in here so she cannot leave. I believe ve have to help her; she's a powerful ally to have."_

_"Alright," Nami said, "but that still doesn't address the issue of getting an eternal pose…"_

_"Don't vorry Candy-Girl," smirked Ivankov. "I happen to have a plan…"_

— — —

Zoro and Sanji quietly paddled their dinghy towards the side of a marine ship, trying not to attract attention.

_"How do we deal with the calm belt issue?" Nami inquired, "Seeing as how the entire island is surrounded by it."_

_"How unprepared do you children think I am?" Ivankov asked. _

_"Unprepared enough not to have an eternal pose," he heard Sanji mutter._

_Ivankov took notice of this, stared at Sanji intently for several seconds, before finally continuing. "Me and my partner Inazuma went to a Revolutionary-controlled island to split and stock up, and I got this ship along with a newkama crew. Fortunately, Dragon was prepared for situations like this, and this ship comes along with three dinghies coated with seastone so as to avoid detection from sea kings."_

They got close enough and began to climb up a built-in ladder on the side of the ship.

"Who would have thought these guys wouldn't see us paddling towards them, as subtle as we were," Sanji said to Zoro. "I would have thought the point of a blockade is to stop people from entering or leaving."

"I doubt they'd expect someone except another marine ship to enter through the Calm Belt," Zoro explained, point upwards. "Besides, if they didn't notice us, then that probably means that they just don't want people to _leave_, not _enter_."

"Wonder why that is…" said Sanji quietly.

"Hell if I know," Zoro answered as he began to climb up the built-in ladder.

Quietly, they peered over the top and saw two marines standing guard nearby. Smiling, both of them jumped the guards and brought them into a storage room nearby.

Both walked out wearing the marine's uniforms, leaving the unconscious men in there.

_"The Marines always have eternal poses lying around in case of an emergency," Ivankov explained. "Zoro and Sanji, you two shall have to infiltrate one of the ships and try and get a hold of one to Sabaody."_

"Could you at least put your swords away Marimo?" Sanji asked. "You're gonna attract attention that way."

"Shut up, we'll be fine. Now lets start looking."

The two of them went into the inside of the ship, carefully checking several cabins; they were completely unaware that a few cabins down, Benjamin, Yamakaji, and Onigumo were discussing their business privately…

— — —

Ivankov had used the power of the Horm-Horm Fruit to turn himself into a female. They sent Zoro and Sanji off to disguise themselves as marines, while their jobs were to infiltrate the Kuja Tribe and try to talk and persuade Boa Hancock to leave with them.

"Ve have to hurry," Ivankov said as they docked the boat away from sight and stepped foot on the island. "Vho knows vhen the Marines decide to pull her title."

"Alright, alright," Nami said.

She had to wear her most scantily-clad clothing on the ship so as to look like a Kuja tribeswoman (which Sanji made a point of saying he enjoyed); Ivankov already had revealing enough clothes, so he was fine.

They traveled into the strange rainforest as Ivankov led the "vay." They had to be careful not to run into a Kuja tribeswoman before they got into the main part of the city. Unfortunately, luck wasn't with them as they ran into a hunting party led by Ran, one of the Kuja Pirates. She trained her bow made out of a snake towards them and demanded to know who they were; she assured them she knew they weren't apart of the Kuja Tribe, or she would have recognized them immediately.

"Fine!" Ivankov said. "Ve are friends with Monkey D. Luffy—"

"Luffy?!" Ran repeated in a shock.

"Yes, and ve vish to talk to your leader about him, if you would permit us."

Ran looked around quickly before finally saying nervously, "O-Of course, follow us, we'll take you to the village."

None of them knew while walking however, that the village was about to become the most unsafe place on the island.

* * *

What awaits them in the village...

**Updating on Friday (will be busy on Saturday)**

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	18. The Isle of Danger 3: Peak and a Prayer

The conclusion to the Amazon Lily mini-arc. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**18: The Isle of Danger 3- Peak and a Prayer**

"Will you watch it Marimo!" Sanji yelled to Zoro. "If you keep this up, someone's bound to hear us!"

"Shut up you stupid chef!" Zoro retorted. "If anything's gonna get us in trouble, it'll be your yelling!"

They had gone through several rooms on the ship, rummaging through all of them in hopes of finding an eternal pose; so far it proved unsuccessful. This was the last room they were authorized to enter without arousing any suspicion, and when they concluded there was nothing in there as well, they collapsed on the floor in annoyance.

"I'm telling you it's somewhere in the navigation room…" Zoro said with disdain in his voice. "You should have listened to me you stupid chef."

"Maybe if you'd used your head a bit Marimo," Sanji shot back, "you'd realize how stupid that sounds. We're disguised as common marines; how are we supposed to get into the navigation room like this?"

Zoro unsheathed his sword with anticipation.

"Without using brute force."

He sheathed it in disappointment.

"Well, let's just go and see if we can sneak in," Zoro suggested. "If no one's in there, we take a quick look around, and if someone is, then we can wait for them to leave."

Sanji knocked the back of his head against the wall and finally replied, "Fine…"

Both men tried their best to look like proper marines when others were walking by them (albeit they always attracted attention), and for the most part they did well. They kept their arguing to a minimum and Zoro's swords didn't attract as much attention as Sanji thought they would.

They reached the Captains Room and carefully peered into one of the few open windows. There, they saw Onigumo, Yamakaji, and Benjamin speaking. Zoro immediately recognized Benjamin and muttered instinctually, "Something's wrong here…"

"What was that Marimo?"

Zoro looked at his partner and quickly stated, "Nothing. Looks like their conversation's winding down, so why don't you wait here and act natural until they leave. Then you can sneak in."

"What do you mean when you only say 'you'?" he inquired.

Zoro clearly wasn't paying attention as he looked towards the deck and said, "I have to go do something. If I don't come back by the time they leave, look yourself."

"Hey, what do you—"

But Zoro was already leaving. Sanji didn't want to attract attention so he simply said in a somewhat whispering urgent voice, "Don't attract attention to yourself! You hear?!"

Zoro didn't respond, he simply raised his hand up to let Sanji know that he heard him.

— — —

Vice-Admiral Onigumo put his cigarette out in an ashtray resting on the table. The room was full of smoke from the combined cigarettes and cigars from Onigumo and Yamakaji respectively. They had been talking for quite some time.

"I guess it's to be expected," Onigumo said humorlessly. "She _did_ aid the Whitebeard Pirates after all; she can probably account as a major part for why so many of them escaped."

"Indeed," Benjamin replied. "Regardless of what she may have done, we _do_ know what she did do, and that was enough to get her title as Shichibukai pulled…"

"And enough to capture her and bring her into the World Government as well," Yamakaji finished. "Well, orders are orders; can't deny them."

All three men stood up and stretched. Benjamin cracked his neck and let out a massive yawn. "I suppose we should start to gather the troops," Yamakaji said, as he and Onigumo began to walk out the door.

Benjamin hesitated for a second before finally calling to them. "You guys go on ahead, I'll be right there."

"Suit yourself," they said, not even bothering to look out.

Both Vice-Admirals walked right past Sanji, who was standing close enough to the door to see them leave, but not close enough to be noticed. He pulled his marine cap down just a little bit more. He inched towards the door and peeked in. He almost immediately reeled back when he saw Benjamin looking at all of the interesting things inside of the room. He quickly went back to his position hoping Benjamin didn't see him snooping.

If Sanji had looked a little longer, he would have seen Benjamin take the pack he had (which he only took off when he sat down) and open it up to inspect it. A visible smile was on his face when he saw that the bomb that was in there was still completely functional. Still smiling, he slid it under the table they were all sitting around and made sure it wouldn't easily be noticed.

_"After you're done on the ship," Victor had further explained to him, "I want you to set this bomb on there; once the mission is complete, set it off and send the fleet skyrocketing."_

Benjamin took one last look around the room and walked out calmly; he passed by Sanji without a second glance.

Now Sanji was sure the coast was clear, but he looked one more time just to be safe. When he saw that it was truly empty this time, he hastily glanced around to make sure no one was looking, and slunk in.

Once inside, he began to search…

— — —

Zoro was sure that the ship he hopped on was Benjamin's. Ever since he saw its silhouette sailing away with Perona, he burned its shape into his mind. He had successfully snuck off the ship and road the dinghy towards his ship.

He docked it right by and quickly hopped aboard. Zoro was almost positive that no one else was on the ship; it was small enough to be crewed by one man, and it didn't seem like Benjamin ever had any crewmates to begin with.

He roamed on the deck for several seconds, looking around to make sure there was nothing suspicious, and then ran towards the cabin. He kicked the door in (no need for subtlety on this ship) and saw a relatively bare room with only the essentials. A table with a map on it, a small pantry stocked with food, and in the corner there was a small bed.

It was on this bed that the unconscious Perona lied.

Zoro ran towards her and lightly slapped her face to see if she would respond. She responded with a tiny groan of annoyance. She was alive! Before Zoro did anything more, he decided to check around Benjamin's cabin to see if he had an eternal pose; it would be better to steal it from him than the others.

After a few minutes of ransacking, Zoro concluded that there was nothing. The clever bastard probably always had it on his person. Cursing under his breath, Zoro knew there was nothing more he could do and heaved Perona onto his shoulder.

He quickly exited Benjamin's ship and lied her onto his dinghy. He looked out onto the sea and saw their own ship not to far in the distance; they stopped right before the Calm Belt began. Zoro would have to row quickly to get back to Sanji in time.

This was the plan, that is, until he heard gunfire go off on the ship Sanji was on. Zoro looked up and saw that there were several shots being fired. Cursing the stupidity of the cook, he quickly rowed the dinghy right towards the edge of the ship, and after getting onto the ladder on the side, he aimed the dinghy towards their ship, and gave it a hard shove, sending it off in that direction.

"This better be damn important Cook, cause we just lost our ride!" he said, gritting his teeth as he saw the dinghy bob on its linear path towards their ship.

— — —

Onigumo and Yamakaji had successfully assembled the marines and armed them to the teeth. They let them know they were going to capture Boa Hancock, and that they would meet fierce resistance from the Kuja Tribe. The men seemed prepared, and all of them were on the island, ready to charge towards their main city.

The only ones still on the ship were Onigumo, Yamakaji, and Benjamin. They were about to leave when they heard a noise behind them.

The noise belonged to Sanji, who successfully held an eternal pose to Fishman Island, located right by Sabaody Archipelago and entrance to the New World, in his hand. The search had been fruitful as it didn't take too long for him to find it. Unfortunately, he was too busy focusing on the three left on the ship that he bumped into some barrels, attracting their attention.

"Who are you?" Onigumo demanded with a stern face. "State your name and rank!"

"Me…uh…well, I'm…" Sanji muttered. Sighing, he pocketed the eternal pose and threw off his marine cap, showing himself. "I'm Black Leg Sanji, woman-lover extraordinaire!"

Onigumo snarled as he and Yamakaji pulled out their pistols and shot at him. Sanji dodged and quickly ran towards Yamakaji, kicking him deftly in the stomach and sending him flying to his back on the deck a few feet away.

Onigumo aimed his pistol at Sanji, but he was able to quickly turn around and kick it out of his hand. Snarling, he pulled out his swords to strike Sanji with, but Zoro appeared on the scene and parried the blow, sending Onigumo back with his strength.

Spitting his cigarette out, Onigumo yelled, "Kirin! Go and lead the men to the Kuja's Capitol. You said you needed experience, well here it is; don't disappoint."

Benjamin did a quick salute and Zoro took notice. "Hey!" he started. "You're—"

"Later, partner," he smirked, before disappearing from the ship all-together.

"Hey, Marimo!" Sanji yelled, "They're going right towards Nami and Ivankov! We have to stop them!"

"Calm yourself Cook," Zoro said. "They're more than capable of taking care of themselves; what's more, they have a whole tribe to help. Let's focus on the current problem shall we?"

"Right," Sanji replied with a grin, dropping his cigarette. He was about to lunge at Onigumo, but was struck hard in his chest by Yamakaji.

The Vice-Admiral cracked his neck and slowly walked towards Sanji. He leapt up and threw a kick at his leg, but Yamakaji dropped his head to the left and was able to grab Sanji's leg. Refusing to let go, he threw him several feet to the hard deck.

"Tough luck runt," Yamakaji said, his grin now gone. "I'm known for my strength."

"Oh yeah?" Sanji said as he shakily stood up. "We'll have to see about that."

Onigumo threw off his Vice-Admiral's cloak and revealed six cutlasses attached to his back. He drew the two cutlasses at his side and grunted. "You're Roronoa Zoro, worth 120,000,000 Berries, aren't you?"

"Yeah…and?"

"I hear you're quite the swordsman."

Zoro smirked as he put his black bandana saying, "I've been known for that."

"Too bad you've never fought against a swordsman like me," he said.

"Save it, I've got more swords than you do," Zoro said, pointing at him.

Onigumo didn't reply as he simply let his devil fruit power speak for him. He was suddenly beginning to get covered in short thick black hair. Before Zoro knew it, six arms sprouted on his back, each one drawing a cutlass. The entire top half of his face (stopping at the tip of his nose) was now covered in black hair as several small red eyes replaced his own two.

Zoro didn't know what to say, so Onigumo simply stated, "Spider-Spider Fruit: Wolf Model!"

In the end, he looked cuttingly close to a wolf spider, and before Zoro could do anything, he sped towards him; he was suddenly behind Zoro. He turned around only to get struck by six swords simultaneously, sending him dropping to the floor.

"Such a shame, to be defeated so easily," Onigumo stated.

Zoro laughed as he stood up, blood flowing from his chest. "I don't give up easily," he stated with a grin.

"Indeed…"

— — —

"What?! You have news of Luffy?! Tell me now!"

Boa Hancock was now on her feet and shaking Ivankov. "Relax! Relax!" she (still in female form) said. "I didn't say I have much, but you need to listen!"

Hancock, however, wasn't paying attention as she strolled away, holding her face. "Oh Luffy, where could you be? I wish I was there with you now…"

"Uhh, not to be mean, but we have some important issues to discuss," Nami said.

"Silence, insolent fool!" Hancock said, looking down on Nami so much she was now looking up.

"Ve don't know Luffy's condition currently, but ve can take you to him!"

"What?!"

Nami sighed as she explained. "We're traveling to where Luffy is, and we had to stop here. As it turns out, you're surrounded by marines who are ready to take you over at any time. We're thinking it all works quite nicely if you just leave with us now."

"If it gets me to Luffy, I'll do anything!" she exclaimed, running towards Nami and clasping her hands.

"Good," Ivankov said. "Now if you don't mind, time is of the essence; we have to get you on our ship quickly and leave ASAP!"

"And why would we be needing to hurry to—" Hancock started.

A sudden rumbling seemed to answer her question. Before she knew it, Ran sprinted in breathless saying, "Hebihime-sama! The marines are attacking the city!"

"What?!" she yelled. Then, quick as lightning, she rapped out orders. "Get the archers up to the higher levels and tell them to open fire. Assemble the army in front of the palace and wait for my orders!"

"Yes!" she said, as she ran off.

"You know they're here only for you," Ivankov stated.

"So?"

"So I'm saying if you vant your Tribe to be safe, you vill listen to vhat I have to say!"

— — —

Chaos reigned down on the courtyard as Kuja archers loosed their arrows into the unsuspecting marine soldiers, who, in turn, fired shots back. The main fighting force was doing their best to hold the soldiers back, but they seemed heavily outnumbered.

Benjamin had given them their orders and now snuck his way around the front lines in an attempt to find Hancock. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to look far as she strode right through the front gate, flanked by Ivankov and Nami. As loudly as she could, she bellowed to the marines:

"You want me! So here I am!"

All of the soldiers looked up and saw their target. A group of the closest rushed towards them; Hancock breathed in deeply and kissed out a heart. Not wasting any time, she pulled her arm back and shot the heart loose towards the soldiers. The heart then popped like a bubble and hit all of the marines, turning them to stones.

"Catch me if you can!" she taunted as she, Ivankov, and Nami took off, sprinting towards the forest.

Benjamin knew she was the prize and yelled, "Follow her! Forget the rest of them!"

All the marines followed the order as they began to chase after the three women. "I can't believe it's vorking!" Ivankov said through her breaths. "They're really forgetting about the rest of the tribe!"

"Great, now we just have to get to the dinghy before we're caught," Nami said raggedly with gloom in her voice.

"You whiny girl," Ivankov said, turning her fingers into syringes. Without warning, she stabbed them into Nami. "Emporio Energy Synthesis!"

She continued to inject herself and Hancock with it, and with the adrenaline coursing through their veins, they took off at even greater speeds. Only Benjamin, using his Soru, was able to keep up. He ordered his men on, and before they knew it, they were at the coast.

All three women trundled into the dinghy and began to get away furiously. Benjamin was about to swim after them, but was reminded that the sea kings would get him before he even got close. Cursing under his breath, he rapped out new orders.

"Everyone get back to the ships! Get ready to chase them!"

All the soldiers agreed and took off towards the ship; they were so busy they didn't even notice Benjamin went in the other direction towards his own ship.

— — —

All four men were exhausted.

The battle drew on for several minutes as everyone fought ferociously. Sanji knew Yamakaji wasn't kidding when he said he was known for his strength; he could take his kicks and return them with the same force, leaving them both ragged.

Zoro was no stranger to fighting against one with so many swords, but Onigumo was skilled at it, and what's more, he was agile like a spider and was getting the better of him. Regardless, Zoro's instincts took over and he scored hits on him as well, leaving both of them bloodied.

Now they stared at each other, breathing heavily, neither side willing to give up. They were about to strike each other again when they suddenly heard a flurry of activity below them. They looked and saw the marines coming towards the ships.

"Shit!" Sanji cursed. "We can't take all of those guys Marimo! I got the eternal pose; let's bail!"

"Unfortunately we don't have a boat to leave on," Zoro simply replied.

"What?!"

Before they could continue speaking, they both heard noise on their end of the ship. They looked and saw Ivankov, Nami, and Hancock all in a dinghy, urging them to come aboard.

Zoro grinned at Sanji. "Looks like they saved our asses."

"Damn straight! Let's go!" Sanji replied, sprinting towards the end of the ship.

"Wait you pirate scum!" Onigumo yelled. "We're not finished yet!"

"Sorry," Zoro said, taking off his bandana. "Maybe some other time."

With that, they both bolted towards the end of the ship and leapt off; they landed on the dinghy with a crash.

Onigumo ran towards the main cabin as the marines trundled aboard the ship. Picking up his den-den mushi, he said, "Headquarters! This is Vice-Admiral Onigumo! Initial capture of Boa Hancock has failed, repeat, initial capture of Boa Hancock has failed; going to pursue by ship!"

"What was that? What did you say Vice-Admiral?!" he heard them reply.

"We're going to pursue Boa Hancock by ship and bring her to the World Government!" he replied furiously.

"We never gave you orders to capture Boa Hancock Vice-Admiral," was their only reply.

Onigumo stood in shock for a second, contemplating. Finally, he said, "Whaddya mean?! You sent Commodore Kirin to confir—"

Then, the explosion took the entire ship.

— — —

Benjamin McAllister saw that he had been had.

Perona was now gone from his ship. Cursing, he went over to his desk and picked up the remote detonator for the bomb he planted on the ship. He knew the mission was a failure, but surprisingly, he smiled and said:

"I know when to cut my losses…Cya later partners!"

With that, he pushed the button and set the bomb off on the ship.

He stepped out on his deck and saw the explosion take place. While there were a small amount of explosives in the bomb, it caught all of the gunpowder and cannonballs on the ship, making an even bigger explosion, enveloping all of the other ships nearby. With one push of a button, all of the marine ships assigned to watch Amazon Lily were eradicated.

_"They'll see the explosions and assumed it was the Kuja's doing," Victor had smiled. "Which works out perfectly for us…"_

Benjamin went back into his ship and set sail, leaving the island for good.

— — —

All of the crew members saw the explosions and recoiled instantly.

"What the hell did that?" Sanji had to ask.

"I have a feeling who," Zoro responded, immediately picturing Benjamin.

Boa Hancock only watched in silence.

Ivankov took Sanji's eternal pose and said, "Let's go, ve have no time to spare…"

The ship then silently padded off towards its destination.

* * *

No joy, no trial and error, simply destruction...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	19. Cloak and Dagger

Victor talks to both sides. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**19: Cloak and Dagger**

Admiral Akainu sifted through all of the paperwork on his desk with a grimace. Grunting, he swept a good seven pages away from his attention and focused on the ones underneath it. He read over it quickly, picked it up, and threw it away in disgust. He was still heavily bandaged, but all of the damage he had sustained from Whitebeard had gone down now to a dull pain.

A rapid succession of three knocks came to the closed door of Akainu's office. Taking off his marine cap for a second and putting his hand to his face in a mix of sleepiness and anger, he finally put it back on saying:

"Come in."

The door opened to reveal Victor. He smiled wide at the Admiral and said, "Hello, do you mind if I come in for a second?"

Akainu nodded his head and pointed to a chair sitting directly across from him. Victor closed the door behind him and gladly took a seat. He leaned back playfully for a second before he said casually, "Lotta work there, huh?"

"You're tellin' me!" was his reply. "You Shichibukai ain't gotta deal with any paperwork like the Admirals do; you just get to do what you want. I suppose I envy you a little for that…"

Victor steadied his chair and let out a large breath. "It's not like it's exactly easy for us either. We've been cooped up in this here city for a good few days and I'm tellin' ya some of the other Shichibukai are goin' crazy with boredom!"

"Let 'em; a little boredom's good for that lot."

Victor chuckled. "Not the nicest response now is it?"

"Well what the hell do you want me to say?!" he angrily responded. He ran his hand over all of the papers on his desk and continued, "It's thanks to your lot that I got all of this mess to deal with. I'm telling you, all of you Shichibukai are nothing but—"

"If you don't mind me asking," interjected Victor, "what exactly are you talking about sir?"

"You didn't hear?" Akainu leaned back further in his chair, explaining, "I'm sure you've heard about our little investigation of Boa Hancock, the former Shichibukai."

"Former?" he asked quizzically. "I thought she was just under investigation, and her title hadn't been fully revoked."

"That's not true anymore," Akainu said, "not after what she did."

"And what would that be?"

Akainu sifted in his seat a bit before answering. "Well, in short, she took out five full marine warships, killing everyone onboard, including two Vice-Admirals."

Victor's face showed surprise. "Damn…how the hell'd she manage to pull that one off?"

"Some kind of explosives…" he further explained. "The blast itself wasn't enough to take out all five ships, but once it his the first ships armory…well, let's just say the rest is history."

Victor sighed with concern. "We taken her into custody yet?"

"Unfortunately, she seems to have escaped. We searched the island and found no signs of her; the locals even said that she took off with some other women. After the hell she's raised, I don't blame her for runnin' off like that. Regardless, we're occupying her island right now in hopes that she comes back."

"Sounds like everything's going to hell in a hand-basket," Victor off-handedly commented.

"You're damn right it is," he stated, anger rising in his voice. "Things are falling apart at the World Government, and the Shichibukai are directly to blame."

"If you're talking about Blackbeard sir, I'm—"

Akainu slammed his hand down on his desk in a rage. "Of course I'm talking about Blackbeard! His sudden defection had caused turmoil in our politics, and what's more, the World Government is classifying him now as Yonko status with the crew he's got with him!"

"So I guess he's back to being a regular old pirate again, eh?" snickered Victor. "I bet he didn't think that far ahead to piss off the entire World Government."

"We've put a bounty on his head," seethed Akainu. "360,000,000 Berries; we think he's somewhere in the New World now."

Victor let out a long, drawn-out whistle to simulate the weight of Akainu's statement. "Shit, with a bounty like that, he won't survive until next week!"

"Regardless of how you look at it," Akainu stated, "Crocodile making Baroque Works and sending Alabasta into anarchy, Jimbei giving up his title and fighting for Whitebeard, Boa Hancock betraying us mid-fight, Blackbeard breaking out Impel Down's worst criminals and leaving, and all of the other Shichibukai playing around more than actually fighting, the Shichibukai are nothing but trouble…"

Victor grinned wolfishly at this comment. "It's funny you should mention that, because I happen to agree with you quite vehemently on this issue."

"Eh?"

"I assure you I want my position as Shichibukai—what could be better than being a protected rogue? But I'm saying, some of these other don't seem to take it too seriously. This troubles me, because _they_ are the ones giving the Shichibukai a bad reputation, and I want to do my best to keep this pact between us and the World Government intact."

"So what are you suggesting?" inquired Akainu.

"Well, it's like this," Victor said, leaning forward. "I don't trust those guys anymore than you do, so I'm figurin' I can make use of my position as the new guy to find out what's going on. Of course, I'll be wanting something in return."

"And what would that be?"

"Let's worry about that later shall we?" he said as he stood up. "I'll just assume your silence is a yes."

Akainu only grimaced at this, as Victor wolfishly grinned and slowly walked out, closing the door behind him. Akainu's head was swimming full of different thoughts, and, in an attempt to get his mind off of it, he went back to his paperwork.

— — —

It was six o'clock.

It's always been a custom that the Shichibukai eat dinner together. While normally a Shichibukai wouldn't want to partake in such an occasion, the World Government has a way of persuading them. This is achieved by the fact that six is the only time the World Government offers dinner to them, and the fact that the dinner offered is usually delicious in some varying way.

For a Shichibukai forced to stay in one place for such a long time, these two criteria are enough to send them back every night with the promise of a good meal.

Victor walked in knowing this fact well. The huge doors opened to reveal a long rectangular table. Already seated at this table were Donquixote Doflamingo, Gecko Moria, and Dracule Mihawk. Everyone immediately glanced up at the sound of Victor walking in; Doflamingo waved him over.

"Hey! Over here newbie!" he laughed, his mouth half-full of food. "There's plenty of room and food to go around."

"You're tellin' me," Victor said, taking a seat up next to him and Moria. "It's looking like this room is a little sparse."

Doflamingo chuckled at this replying, "Ain't that the truth! I don't know what's wrong with the Shichibukai these days, but we just can't seem to be able to keep any real members down! We've only got four real ones, including you; Kuma doesn't count due to some uh…modifications."

His eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. "Sure hope you're willing to stay a part of this team kid!"

Victor took some ale and drank it down. After biting down on a crust of bread he replied with a mouthful of food: "Don't worry yourself about that; my goal has been to become a Shichibukai for a while now, and I figured with all of the defections going around, this was the perfect time to join the ranks."

"Well that's good to hear," Moria commented, looking down at his plate.

Hawk-Eyes Mihawk was currently sleeping in his chair with his feet up on the table.

After a few minutes of food (which Victor had to agree was delectable) and drink, Victor got to talking. "So I've been wondering…"

"Hmm?" Doflamingo responded.

"The point of becoming a Shichibukai is so you would be able to roam around the seas without fear of getting caught by the World Government right?"

"That's why I signed up," Moria said, downing a cup of sake.

"Then why is it that…" Victor paused for a second. "…that all of us are being cooped up in here instead of being out on the seas to do what we do best?"

"Now that's a good question there newbie!" Donquixote chuckled. "You really wanna know? Well, simply put we're being threatened to stay here."

"How do you mean?"

Doflamingo sipped on his drink before speaking again. "The entire World Government's got its panties in a bunch over the recent events and they're still doin' massive damage control. What with further chaos bein' cause by the resignation of Vice-Admiral Garp and the death of two other Vice-Admirals caused by our very own Boa Hancock, they see us as more of a liability right now."

Moria nodded his head in agreement.

"So in short, they've threatened us by saying that if we left Mariejois, we'd have our title of Shichibukai revoked, and our bounties reinstated. You know how much my bounty's worth kid?"

Victor shook his head.

"340,000,000 Berries!" Doflamingo nearly shouted. "While normally I don't take kindly to what the World Government orders me to do, I don't much feel like having every bounty hunter from here to the West Blue chasin' for my head!"

"Same with me," Moria replied. "If it wasn't for that threat, I'd be outta here in a second, but for now, there's nothing we can really do about it."

Victor downed his drink and threw his glass against the wall; it shattered and made a loud noise, but it wasn't loud enough to wake up Mihawk. Both Shichibukai trained their eyes on Victor with confusion.

"This is bullshit!" he replied. "I joined the Shichibukai so I could do whatever the fuck I want, and now they're telling us that if we leave, we're losing our titles?! The World Government thinks they can treat us however they want? We all took that oath, and every one of us knows that it's complete bullshit. Hmph! They might as well modify us like Kuma so we're good little mindless drones without a thought in the world!"

"Kishishishishishi!" Moria laughed. "I like you kid! You're a regular Dragon, you know that? And while I do enjoy your clearly passionate speech, you're blowing this outta proportion. They're only keepin' us here for a few more days after all the shits sorted out, and then it's back to our life like before. If that were the case, though, I'd be right up there complainin' with you!"

Victor looked a little embarrassed and said, "I guess you're right, I'm sorry."

"Fufufu, don't worry about it!" Doflamingo said, slapping Victor on the back. "I like the passion you got; I think you're gonna come in real handy, mark my words."

"Thanks," he said, looking down at his empty plate.

Doflamingo stood up and stretched. "Guess I'm going back to my quarters; I'll catch you guys later!"

He left quietly, and not too soon after, Moria followed suit. Victor sat down for a few more minutes before leaving the room himself. Meanwhile, Mihawk kept sleeping on.

It was fifteen minutes past six.

— — —

Later the next day, Victor found himself back in Akainu's office. He looked at Victor through his now diminished bandages speaking only a single word.

"Well?"

Victor stared innocently with a closed smile. "Well what?"

"Don't mess around with me," Akainu sharply responded. "What have you figured out?"

"Well, I was able to talk to them briefly at dinner," Victor stated, "and I was able to figure out a little bit."

"Well, go on?"

"Well, there's no doubt they're angry at the World Government's threats of title revoking, but for the most part, they don't seem like they're gonna act on it."

Akainu leaned back in his chair. "I see."

"But if you don't mind me saying sir," Victor continued, "I have no idea what any of them are thinking. I got them to think I'm on their side, and I believe they trust me, but…"

"But what?"

"But I've been around men like them before, and I don't trust 'em. I don't know what they're planning, or what they're capable of, and I don't think we want to take that risk."

"How do you mean?"

"Well it's like this," explained Victor, "when you and your marines quarantined Hancock on that island, much like we are quarantined here now, she retaliated by blowing up five battleships. Now I'm not saying I know the future, but if this keeps up much longer, this will probably be the case as well. And, well, to be honest, if we let them get away with that, much like if we let Hancock get away with what she did…"

"Yes?" he curiously inquired.

"What would that do to the World Government's Absolute Justice?"

That seemed to strike a chord with Akainu, as if now he could see the danger in letting this go unchecked. "You're right," he said. "We failed to kill Luffy because the Shichibukai were allowed to do as they pleased, and I don't intend to let them ruin our Absolute Justice again."

He looked up at Victor with resolve in his eyes. "What do you think we should do?"

Victor grew a malicious grin at this, but it quickly faded away back to his old cheerful face Akainu was so used to looking at.

"Well, my suggestion would be this…"

* * *

Shrewd, ever-changing...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	20. Strength of the Revolutionaries

A reunion intertwined. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**20: Strength of the Revolutionaries**

Robin still wasn't sure if their meeting was coincidental or not.

It took around a day for her and Splint the revolutionary to get to the Reverse Mountain, the entrance to the Grand Line. Ironically, right before they went into the Reverse Mountain, they ran into another ship also going on that path.

Robin thought nothing of it until Splint began to yell across to the other ship. She was even more surprised that they shouted back. It wasn't the kind of shouting that strangers say, but it seemed as if they were longtime friends calling each other over. Before Robin knew it, the ship started to come towards theirs.

The captain of the other ship boarded theirs and shook hands with Splint. The captain of the other ship was bizarre to say the least, and he always seemed to be carrying a glass of wine in one hand. Splint clasped him on the back and called over to Robin.

"Hey Robin, I want you to meet somebody!"

She complied and saw the man. Splint did the introductions: "This is Commander Inazuma, also with the Revolutionaries, and one of my personal friends. Inazuma, this is Robin, the person I was ordered to pick up."

"Nice to meet you," Robin said.

Before anything more could be said, she heard someone yell: "_ROOOBBBIIINNN_!"

She looked behind her to see Tony Tony Chopper jumping from Inazuma's ship towards her. Before she could even speak, he had hopped on her and hugged her. Tears were coming from his eyes as he said how he was so glad to see her. Robin smiled as she patted him on the head affectionately.

The ships were anchored and the Reverse Mountain was currently forgotten as the two crews conversed. Good cheer was spread around as Robin and Chopper told each other of their adventures.

Chopper told her how Inazuma picked him up and saved him, and Robin spoke likewise. Mentally, she wondered how much of this Dragon actually planned, and if this meeting was coincidental or not. After a little bit, Splint and Inazuma decided to merge their crews onto a single ship since they were both going to the same place.

After the transferring over of supplies onto a single ship, they finally set off to the Reverse Mountain. After getting into the Grand Line, they passed Crocus and Laboon, and, now knowing who they were at the time, thought nothing of it.

Currently the crew was following the eternal pose to Sabaody Archipelago and was going along just fine. Robin was sitting in her cabin idly reading an archaeology book which was found among one of the many books the ship had (which Robin was completely amazed at) when Chopper burst through the door.

"Robin!" he said breathlessly as she looked form her book to him.

"What is it?"

Chopper took a second to catch his breath before almost yelling, "Pirates have gotten on the ship and have taken the crew hostage!"

Robin was immediately up and hopped off the bed. "How could they do that so easily?"

"Well," Chopper looked away, "there are a lot of them, and the Captain seems to be really strong. We were ambushed and there wasn't even really a fight."

Robin kneeled down and put her hand on Chopper's shoulder. "Don't worry, what we're gonna do is—"

She was cut off when three motley-looking pirates appeared at the door and had their guns trained on them. "Got three more here!" one said to the other two.

"Come on; get your hands up you two! Out on the deck with the rest of your pathetic crew!"

"Robin…" Chopper said in a frightened voice.

"Just do what they say for now," she assured him. "Don't worry; it'll all be okay in the end."

"Hey! You guys fuckin' deaf?! We said get your hands up and get on the damn deck!"

They both complied as they put their hands on their heads and followed them out to the deck, with the chuckling pirates guns trained on their backs. Robin looked around and saw that Chopper was right; there were a lot of enemy pirates on the deck. They gathered around the sides of the ship and nearly made the entire deck packed. She looked at the enemy's ship right by theirs and saw it was much larger.

They had the crew sitting on their knees in the middle of the deck surrounded by pirates with guns at all sides. Chopper and Robin were led to the middle of the group as she looked around at their ashamed faces for getting caught off guard; she noticed Splint and Inazuma were missing.

The Captain stood at the front of the ship sneering in victory. He was a large man with shaggy long brown hair and beard. He had a large stomach and a black captain's coat draped over his back as his arms were crossed across his large chest. He walked with an air of confidence back and forth as the captives followed him with their eyes.

"It appeahs," he said with a thick accent, "dat you'd been takin' ovah by da fearsum Buzzsaw Pirates!" He let out a raucous laugh. "I'mda Captain of dis here fearsum crew known as Captain Buzzsaw. An' if anyun wantsta find out how I gots my name," he paused for a second for dramatic effect, "all ya needsta do is ask, and I'll gladleh show it to ya!"

After letting out another obnoxious laugh, he continued. "We are here to ransack dis here ship, sinsh it looked so well suppliad! Aftuh we steal everythin' of value, we shall take off, and alluh you will be able to go about yah business as if nufin' happened. Is dat a deal?"

"Get ready Chopper," Robin whispered to the reindeer next to her.

When silence reigned, Buzzsaw pulled out a pistol he had in his red sash and said, "I'ma 'summin dat yer silence means a definite yes, so if ya would all just sitteh quietlah, we will be done ina mattah of minutes."

Robin was ready. "Cincuenta Fleures!" she yelled, getting everyone's attention.

Fifty arms sprouted on all of the men surrounding the captives and through their surprised screams, Robin said, "Clutch!"

With that, all of the armed pirates backs were cracked in an instant, and Robin, Chopper, and the rest of the crew sprung up in an instant.

"Get dem!" yelled an angry Buzzsaw, pointing his pistol at them.

Before the closest pirates to him could move, the floor beneath them gave way, and they all fell down to the next story. Buzzsaw looked down and saw Splint and Inazuma jump up onto the deck. Below them, all of the pirates that fell were moaning in pain.

Splint lit a cigarette and said casually to Inazuma, "This is what happens when both of us go downstairs to check supplies."

"It doesn't matter; we're here now," Inazuma coolly replied.

Forgetting about the now freed captives, Buzzsaw pointed to them and yelled, "Dey're da real threats! Get dem first!"

All of the pirates rushed towards Inazuma and Splint, as Inazuma said, "I got this, step back."

Splint smiled and said, "Alright," complying with his demands.

All of the pirates were surrounding Inazuma now as they all had their swords raised and were about to bring it down. Inazuma looked down and simply said, "Scissor Block!"

With that, countless scissor blades sprung out form all parts of his body, stabbing pirates too near and blocking the others blades. Inazuma then turned his hands into scissors and made quick work of the pirate's blades, and subsequently taking them out of the picture.

Captain Buzzsaw roared with anger as he threw off his captain's coat, revealing two massive circular saw blades on his back. He quickly strapped them onto his own wrists, treating them like bracelets. Before long, he began to spin his arms around at high speeds and when he was done, the saw blades were spinning around rapidly. Letting out another roar, he rushed towards Inazuma.

"That's it!" members of his crew said. "The fighting style that earned him a bounty of 78 million berries!"

When he was close enough, Buzzsaw brought down his entire arm on Inazuma. He quickly blocked it with one of his scissor hands, but the blades were spinning so quickly that they caused a knick in his scissor, causing him pain. Inazuma recoiled a bit as Buzzsaw let out a massive laugh and said, "Gwahahahaha! My blades are spinning so fast they can even knick steel!" He then went in closer to finish him.

Before he could do that, Splint entered by issuing Buzzsaw a flying kick to the face, sending him flying across the floor. "Splint…" Inazuma said.

Splint took one last puff out of his cigarette before dropping it to the floor and stepping on it. "Don't worry," he said, not even looking back. "You did well, but I'll finish this guy for you."

"_You'll pay for dat little man_!" Buzzsaw roared, now back on his feet.

Splint flashed a grin at his enemy. He took off his black gloves and dropped them to the floor. "Let's see what you're made of then big boy!"

Buzzsaw swung his arms around rapidly again to get his blades moving again. He barreled towards his opponent again like an enraged animal. Splint simply stood there until Buzzsaw was within range. His eyes flashing with bloodlust, Buzzsaw brought both blades down towards Splint at the same time.

Right before they hit him, Splint brought both his hands up in what looked to be a meager defense, touching both blades before they hit the rest of him. Surprisingly, his hands went through the blades quite easily and before they made another rotation, the blades flew off of Buzzsaw's wrists and onto the deck.

He looked at them shocked to see that the part of the blades Splint touched simply vanished, leaving a massive hole in the blades, thus making it unable to complete a full rotation.

Buzzsaw looked back angrily and yelled as spittle flew out of his mouth, "Wat da hell didja just do?!"

Splint responded by hitting Buzzsaw in his ample stomach, winding him and sending him to his knees clutching his stomach. Buzzsaw looked at where he got hit and saw that the part of the shirt that Splint hit was gone as well.

"In case you haven't figured it out by now," Splint smiled, "I ate the Blank-Blank Fruit."

He showed them his hands, which were stark white with nothing marring them at all. "It allows me to erase any non-organic object I touch like that. In short, I'm an Eraser-Man."

Everyone seemed to gasp at this, but Buzzsaw refused to accept defeat. He was quickly up on his feet and let out an animal like roar.

"Is roaring all you can do?"

Buzzsaw poised his body to strike as Splint sighed saying, "Unfortunately, I can only erase things that are non-organic, so I can't erase you from existence, but…that's where my fighting style comes in handy."

Buzzsaw brought his massive hands down, leaving his chest wide open again. Splint quickly struck up a fighting pose, cocking back his left hand and said, "Revolutionary Style: Dragon Fist!"

His left hand shot Buzzsaw's chest quick as lightning. A massive indent showed where he was just hit, and Buzzsaw's knees buckled while his eyes turned white. It took only two seconds for him to topple to the ground, leaving Splint standing victorious.

"The Dragon Fist allows the user to strike at formidable speed," he explained to his unconscious enemy. "There's no force that is lost in the strike, and thus there is no recoil from your body. All of the force is kept in one point and while your body doesn't fly back from the force, it hurts a lot more."

All of the Buzzsaw Pirates looked around at the freed and clearly angry revolutionaries, and then at Splint, Inazuma, and their unconscious captain before they realized they couldn't win. Throwing all of their weapons down, they picked up their injured and unconscious (including their Captain, which took five men to pick up) and quickly fled back to their ship, wanting to get away from their enemy's ship as quick as possible.

Splint looked back at all of his crewmates and smiled earnestly with a newly lit cigarette in his mouth. "Pretty cool, huh?"

They all nodded in silent awe, and Robin thought that most of them weren't aware of their leader's powers. She and Splint caught eyes for a second, and she nodded with gratitude.

Within a few hours, everything was back to normal; all the damage was fixed (except for the hole in the floor, which was just there for the time being) and the ship was sailing smoothly to their destination.

Robin was back in her room reading the same book with Chopper lying down at her side. _"Dragon's got himself some pretty strong men," _she thought. _"I just hope he is doing this to help Luffy…"_

Without even realizing it, she found herself muttering, "The Will of D…"

Chopper looked up and asked, "What did you say Robin?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it," she responded as Chopper set his head back down.

The thought still remained, however, even as she went back to try and focus on her book.

* * *

What is Dragon planning for the Straw Hat Crew?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	21. A Shattered Companionship 2: Them Bones

The bonds of broken music. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**21: A Shattered Companionship 2- Them Bones**

Times were good.

For Scratchmen Apoo and Brook, their current trip on the seas was just one continuous party. Brook was elated to see that Apoo was also a music buff (just him eating the Sound-Sound Fruit wasn't evidence enough) and had a plethora of instruments on his ship. Apoo, inversely, was also elated that Brook knew how to play every instrument he had.

"Some of these instruments aren't even well known to the general public," Apoo said amazed. "How come you know how to play them all so well?"

"Yohohohoho! I've had two lifetimes to perfect my musical skill to the level where I can just play any instrument I see. After a while, though, my muscles do get tired out from playing so much."

"I see, well that's—"

"Oh wait, I don't have any muscles! Yohohohohohohoho!"

"Apapapapapa!" Apoo joined in the laughter. Apparently, he found Brook's brand of humor funny (even though most people don't).

Brook had been traveling with the On Air Pirates for two and a half days now. This is not to say that the trip was smooth, cause it simply was not. They were plagued with problems ever since the beginning of the trip, whether it be food and water shortages (which Brook later admitted to taking), mechanical problems with the ship (which Brook later admitted to tinkering with), and several small pirate attacks (which Brook's loud music seemed to have attracted).

The worst was a massive storm the pirates had to weather. Rain beat down in sheets against the sails, slowing the ship down, wind was coming in from the side, and massive waves were striking every angle of the ship. It took all of the On Air Pirate's cunning and Apoo's leadership abilities to lead them through.

At one point in the storm, Brook (who was busy hiding in the corner), was struck by a massive wave and sent flying onto the deck. There, a terrible gust of wind took him and started bringing him to the side of the ship.

"It appears that my hulking physique isn't enough to stop this wind…" he said with a laugh as he continued to be sent flying.

"…Oh wait, I'm only bones! Yohohohohoho—"

He struck the edge of the ship and toppled over it, into the water, ironically, still laughing at his skeleton joke.

"Brook!" Apoo yelled, dashing towards the edge of the ship.

Luckily, Apoo used his long arms to grab Brook just before he was out of reach. With a heave, he pulled him up and told him to stay inside the ship, which he happily did. With a sigh, Apoo went back to commanding the ship, and soon enough, the storm was over.

There were several minor things as well, but they were not worth mention, at least not to Brook anyway.

Regardless of what happened, music is what always kept the On Air Pirates in good spirits. Brook and Apoo's constant playing of instruments always made the crew cheerful and optimistic.

There were also constant challenges as to who can play music better. Neither one willing to back down, put their skill to the test and both played at the same time until one was willing to give up. These would sometimes go on for six hours at a time until both of them collapsed exhausted, and usually with Brook making some kind of skeleton joke.

_(Yohohohohohoho!)_

All in all, life was good for the two pirates, and their love for music only made their bond stronger.

One day, both Apoo, Brook, and a few scattering crewmen were playing a song together (which is usually what they did to pass the time), with the rest of the crew watching and applauding. After several minutes of this, the song ended, and the entire crew was up in applause. Apoo and Brook gave each other a high-five as a sign of respect.

"You got some nimble fingers man!" Apoo complimented. "Being able to play that instrument so well."

"I account it for all of the milk I drink to keep the bones in my fingers strong…" Brook started.

The entire crew was quiet as they knew what was coming next. "Oh wait, I only have bones! Yohohohohohoho!"

The crew was expecting a skeleton joke, yet somehow, every time Brook says one, it's always funny. Most likely because the jokes aren't good, but because Brook himself says them, and that's what makes the comedy.

"How 'bout another one?" asked Apoo with a laugh.

"Sounds good," Brook said, putting his current instrument down and going over to the piano. "I think I'll play this one now though."

"Suit yourself," Apoo said, going back to his wind instrument.

They played another five minute song, but this one wasn't so upbeat as the others. It was more like a deep moving song. No one knew what brought it on, but later, they would most likely see that song as an omen and a sign.

When they were done, the applause went up, and when it subsided, only one person was still applauding. Everyone looked around, until the person finally spoke up.

"That was a pretty nice song."

Everyone immediately looked behind them to see a woman sitting on the railing, still clapping slowly. "Who the hell are you?!" Apoo asked, a bit off-guard.

The first thing everyone noticed about this mysterious woman was that she was singularly beautiful. She looked around five-nine and appeared to be in her early-to-mid-twenties. Her face looked youthful and vibrant, and no real makeup could be seen, save for very distinct ruby color on her lips. She had straight long brown hair, parted to the side, and it flowed down almost to the end of her back. She dressed very scantily, only wearing a bikini top, showing off her moderately-sized breasts and small stomach, and a small skirt that showed off most of her legs, all the way down to her high-heeled shoes.

She smiled very seductively and said, "The name is Aliyyah, but folks around here seem to call me the Typhoon."

Before anyone could speak, Brook was right in front of her, kneeling down and took her hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you," he said in a very gentlemanly-like tone. "My name is Brook."

"I've never seen a talking skeleton before," she remarked with a giggle. "It's very nice to meet your Brook."

"I was wondering," he said, looking up at her, "if you would be so kind as to show me your panties."

With that, her cheerful face seemed to turn into that of anger. Without another word, she knocked Brook across the side of his head, sending him flying into the side of the ship. The crew didn't seem to react well to this.

"She attacked Brook! Get her!"

She smiled again and simply held out her right arm. Before they knew it, a large amount of swirling water shot out of it, hitting the people running towards her. "Typhoon!" she said with a joy in her voice.

Apoo didn't take anymore of this as he began to transform his body parts into instruments. "Tatakau Music: Scratch Shan Don!"

"Shan!" he yelled, as a sound wave flew out and cut her right arm off at the elbow. She looked at it with a mock-expression of pain on her face. "Don!"

A massive explosion took place with her at the center. She dropped down like a ton of bricks. Apoo then went over to his ailing crewmates and tried to help them. "Now that wasn't very nice," he heard, as he looked up only to get hit by a blast of water, sending him flying against the rail of his ship.

Aliyyah stood there unharmed, and that malicious smile was back on her face. "You!" Apoo yelled. "What devil fruit did you eat?"

Aliyyah then seemed to morph into a liquid and slid towards Apoo and quick speeds. She reconstituted herself right in front of Apoo and answered, "I ate the Soak-Soak Fruit, and it's a logia-type that lets me turn into water."

"That means—" started Apoo.

"That's right!" cut of Aliyyah as she picked Apoo up by the throat. "It means that your attacks can't hurt me at all."

Before Apoo could attack, she turned her free arm into a shape of a sword. "Soak-Soak Sword! You may think water can't hurt you, but when it's packed hard enough, it's just as strong as steel!"

She demonstrated by slashing Apoo across his chest, leaving a large gash and sent him roaring in pain. Before she could do anything else, Brook intervened by slicing off the arm she was holding Apoo with, freeing him.

She looked angrily at Brook as her arm grew back. "That was quite rude."

"Says the woman who's acting very unlady-like!" Brook retorted, as he lunged his sword at her again, this time at her chest.

He found that his sword only went through water, leaving her unharmed. Before Brook could pull it out, she turned her fist into what looked like a mallet and swung it at the side of Brook's head, sending him flying yet again.

"My orders are to capture him; I don't have time to play with someone like you. Get lost!"

Apoo was now back on his feet, turning his arm into another instrument, but before he could play another song, Aliyyah's legs turned into jet streams that propelled her into the air, right above Apoo. Without a word, she shot down and knocked Apoo down, landing on his chest.

He spat out a good amount of blood from that strike, but he wasn't ready to give up yet. He began to transform his arm yet again into another instrument to incapacitate her, but she saw it coming. Before he could fully transform them, she shot two blobs of water down at both hands. Surprisingly, they both kept his arms down, and he wasn't able to move them again.

"Hey, what's this…" he said. "I'm starting to feel…weak…"

Aliyyah giggled yet again as she explained. "The thing that makes me much more powerful than other logia-type devil fruit users is that I have the ability to cancel out other people's devil fruit powers by simply attaching water to them. In short, I am a seastone to other devil fruit users."

Apoo then fainted, struggle still stamped on his face. She got off his chest and picked him up with a grunt. "Despite my power though," she said, "I'd still rank myself as around the fourth strongest of our group."

No one around was able to hear it, but Brook was back up on his feet charging at her again. He leapt into the air and yelled, "Let him go!"

Aliyyah sighed as she pointed her fist towards Brook. "Typhoon!" she yelled, sending a massive amount of water flying towards Brook, sending him back to the ground.

Aliyyah morphed both blobs of water into one behind Apoo's back, forming a makeshift seastone cuff. She looked back at the fallen crewmembers and the struggling Brook and blew a kiss at them.

"Cya, it was fun!"

With that, she leapt off of the ship and landed on a small raft right besides it with an incapacitated prisoner that looked like a marine.

_("Well, we had a female intruder enter into the base a while ago, demanding to see Captain Shuu, the commanding officer in this base")_

Using her devil fruit powers, she was able to power it so that it would move at incredible speeds; it raced away from the crew and their ship.

Brook was up at this time and ran over to the side of the ship, only to see them speeding away. He slammed his fist down angrily at the side and quickly turned around. "Get up all of you! We need to go get Apoo back right now!"

Just then, Brook heard another voice on the other side of the boat.

"Hello?!"

He vaguely recognized that voice and looked over to see Franky and Taroimo in their ship _Clockwork_. Brook quickly told them to get aboard, as they attached _Clockwork_ to the side of the ship and quickly got aboard.

Franky was ready to have a great meeting with Brook and explain his harrowing trip on his small boat to eventually end up right by his, but as he saw, that wasn't going to happen. "What's up?" he asked, as Taroimo barked.

"I'll explain later!" he said angrily, kicking at the fallen crewmen. "Come on! Get up! Your Captain gets stolen and all you can do is lie there?!"

Soon enough, the entire crew was up, and they were working their hardest to try and get the ship to catch up. Franky sat Brook down and forced him to explain. Brook did, and at the end, Franky was in tears at the sad story.

After a quick slap to the back of the head, Franky was on his feet and vowed to help them. He then casually pointed out how she was heading in the same direction they were supposed to go.

"She must be going to the New World," Brook said, "which means we can probably catch her in Sabaody if we're fast. Come on! Make this ship go faster!"

Franky was a bit put-off. He had never seen Brook act like this before; he imagined that he and Apoo had some kind of strong bond. The crew spent the rest of the day trying to make up for lost time.

There was no music playing today.

Taroimo barked.

* * *

A bittersweet reunion amongst tragedy...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	22. Rage for the Right

A Meeting that changes Fates. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**22: Rage for the Right**

The tension in the room was…palpable to say the least. No words were spoken, no sounds were made, and no one dared to move. In the main meeting room of Mariejois, Donquixote Doflamingo, Dracule Mihawk, Gecko Moria, Victor, and even Bartholomew Kuma sat quietly in their seats at the long rectangular table; they were the only ones there.

They were called to the room under the order of Admiral Akainu himself. Confusion was inevitable amongst them, but Akainu refused to tell them why; he simply said wait in the room until the Admirals arrive. So wait they did and it took a good twenty minutes of silence before both Admiral Akainu and Admiral Kizaru walked through the door, an air of urgency around both of them.

They took their seats at the head of the table and before they could even speak, Moria felt compelled to ask. "Where's Admiral Aokiji?"

"That fool's probably taking a nap somewhere," Akainu scoffed. "Who cares, he's not necessary here anyway."

That answer was good enough, as silence reigned again for a few more seconds. Eventually, Akainu spoke. "We have called all of you in here today to share very important news with you all."

"It better be damned important! I didn't wait here for nothin'!" Doflamingo chuckled in his usual tone.

Akainu brushed the comment off with a scowl and continued. "It has recently been brought to our attention of the instability and subsequent danger that the Shichibukai have brought to the Marines and the World Government as a whole."

Victor imagined everyone expected that, as their silence told him.

"With the near destruction of Alabasta at the hands of Crocodile, Jimbei's defection and aid of the Whitebeard Pirates, Blackbeard's defection and freeing of Impel Down's worst criminals, and most recently, Boa's implied resignation when she and her tribe blew up five of our battleships, killing both Vice-Admirals Onigumo and Yamakaji."

There was a shuffling in the chair at this point. Victor snickered quietly as he imagined it was Mihawk getting more comfortable, as he just realized he was gonna be there for a _long_ time.

"It's quite obvious that these outrages are inexcusable," said Akainu after a quick breath. "And in the name of Absolute Justice, we will not allow their deeds to go unpunished. Consequently, Jimbei's bounty has been reinstated, while Hancock's has been raised to 180 million berries; we have also taken the liberty of giving Blackbeard the hefty bounty of 360 million berries. It will only be a matter of time before every bounty hunter is looking for their heads."

"Fufufufu! Someone with a bigger bounty than me?" interjected Doflamingo. "What a riot!"

Akainu stopped and glared daggers, as Kizaru lazily put a finger up to his closed lips to signal silence. Doflamingo's laugh subsided to a chuckle, and eventually to nothing at all. Akainu cleared his throat and continued, taking out a white sheet of paper.

"All of these things have cost the World Government dearly, and as such, we are going to be taken certain precautions to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Victor could feel the tension in the room just double.

"Whereas, the Shichibukai are a massive asset to the Marines and World Government," he started, reading off the paper. "And whereas, certain issues have brought into question the Shichibukai's loyalty to said World Government; whereas, all of said issues have cost the World Government in things such as the Battle of Marineford. Therefore, it has been resolved that tighter restrictions shall be put upon the Shichibukai, where they shall be forced to report to the World Government at least once a week—"

"Hey, what kinda bullshit is this?" Moria yelled in the middle of Akainu's speech.

Victor took notice of this and pushed something in his pocket; a noise could be heard outside.

"—they will also be accompanied by any high-ranking Marine officer while on World Government premises," Akainu continued a little louder, not deterred by the interruption. "And finally, where they will be monitored by Marines at any city with a marine base at all times. Failure to report to the World Government via den-den mushi will result in a discharge of a Vice-Admiral to investigate the problem, and failure to comply with any of these rules will result in the immediate expulsion from the Shichibukai and current bounties reinstated, and therefore—"

Akainu wasn't able to go any farther as a group of shadow bats flew through the paper and through Akainu's molten body themselves, destroying the list Akainu was reading off of. He looked at a clearly agitated and standing Moria with a grimace on his face.

"Do you realize what you've just done?" Akainu asked in a low threatening growl.

Moria refused to sit or back down. "Do you realize what _you _have done?" he replied angrily through clenched teeth. "Do you seriously think that putting a tighter grip on the Shichibukai will make you safer?"

Akainu stood there with determination. "We haven't any other choice! You Shichibukai are loose cannons, and we have to be sure you're acting in the best interest of the _World Government_!"

"Don't tell me you're seriously considering watching us _24 fucking 7_!" asked Moria with almost a roar.

"We're not considering it," Akainu replied bluntly. "We're going _through _with it; after this meeting we're going to Sengoku for the seal of approval, and then it will be done!"

Moria could hold his anger in no longer. "You're insane! This is no way to end the dissension in the ranks; this is only going to _bolster _it!"

"If you don't sit down right now," Akainu said menacingly, turning his right arm into lava, "I will force you to!"

"Fuck you and fuck your rules!" he yelled proudly. "I joined the Shichibukai to be free, but now you're gonna take that away. If that's the case, then fuck the Shichibukai too! Brick Bats!"

Moria's shadow turned into a group of bats and flew towards Akainu, striking him in the chest; unfortunately for Moria, he was unharmed. Moria's shadow reconstituted itself, right as a yellow beam shot through his shoulder. He let out a small grunt of pain.

Admiral Kizaru stood there with his smoking finger pointing at Moria. "I'm afraid you've forced my hand as soon as you attacked Akainu," he said with his still deadpan voice. "I hope you realize the consequences of what you just did."

Before Kizaru could strike again, his head was severed off in an instant. It quickly reformed, and he looked to see Doflamingo now on the table with a wide grin on his face. "Normally I would try and persuade you to reconsider, but I can clearly see that that ain't going to happen. So I guess you can consider this my resignation too!"

"This is…a real shame," Akainu said, looking at the motionless Kuma.

The Pacifista seemed to get the message as he suddenly rushed behind Doflamingo and threw a massive punch towards him. Doflamingo saw this coming and leapt up, doing a back flip and landing behind him, causing him several cuts in the air as well. Kuma quickly turned around and shot a beam out of his mouth. Doflamingo easily side-stepped it, and it flew towards the still-sitting Mihawk.

He easily used his sword to deflect it, but this got him to stand up. He lowered his hat slightly, and, without saying a word, brought his sword down in a horizontal slash, hitting Kuma from far away, causing a massive rip in his chest, exposing his wires. At this point, the fighting seemed to have surprised Victor, as he nervously fell backwards in his chair.

Victor quickly scrambled towards the table and got up just enough for his eyes to see over the table. If anyone else wasn't fighting, they would have noticed he had an incurable grin on his face.

Moria gathered his shadow together in the form of a spear. "Horned Blade Shadow!" he yelled as it flew towards Akainu.

Victor looked at Akainu at that instant.

Just as Akainu was about to strike, the spear struck him dead in the chest. Strangely enough, he wasn't able to turn to lava, and as such, was wounded by the strike. He spat out blood, and soon he saw that his powers returned. He quickly sped in using his lava powers and struck Moria in the chest with his lava fist, utterly burning his chest.

The all-out brawl continued between the six contenders: Akainu, Kizaru, and Kuma vs. Moria, Doflamingo, and Mihawk. Victor continued to dodge the flying blows as he himself stood on the sidelines, watching the madness unfold…

It was clear that Kuma was outmatched. He swung his pawed fist at Mihawk, but he simply hopped back and sliced his arm right open, revealing more wires. It seemed that the Pacifista's armor couldn't do much to a man who could already pierce steel.

"What a waste," Mihawk lamented. "To think that you'll meet your end with the government that you so truly despised."

Kuma didn't respond as he continued to rush mindlessly at Mihawk. He sighed and closed his eyes and raised his blade. Before Kuma knew it, he was behind him. He didn't even look towards him when Mihawk said, "Farewell…Tyrant…"

Kuma understood what he meant when an incredibly large gash appeared on his chest. He gave on uttering grunt of annoyance before he collapsed onto the ground, unable to fight any longer…

Doflamingo and Kizaru were busy fighting it out, as Doflamingo had the strange ability to cut off any part of Kizaru's body with the flick of a hand. This didn't affect Kizaru much, as his lost limb simply regenerated, but it did, however, _annoy _him. He was attempting to get off light beams on Doflamingo, but he was too quick and would cut off his finger or hand.

He was finally resorting to close-combat as he used his superior speed to get close. He moved in on Doflamingo quick with his leg ready to strike, but much to his surprise, Doflamingo brought his own foot up, and was able to stop his kick before it hit.

"Fufufu! Can't transform into light right before you hit can you?" Doflamingo mocked. "Makes you just like anyone else!"

With a quick move of his hands, Kizaru was suddenly sliced in several places on his chest, and it was separated from his body and fell to the floor. It transformed back easily, but that gave Doflamingo the time needed to put some distance between the fighters.

Kizaru gave a face of annoyance as he tried another light beam, but saw that Doflamingo was easily able to avoid it. Then, in an attempt to surprise him, Doflamingo moved up and tried to kick Kizaru. He only went through light, and Kizaru saw this as a chance to finish him.

He pointed his right index finger at him as he charged up a light beam saying, "Not too smart are you?"

Before he could get the blast off, Doflamingo severed his right hand clean off. This didn't surprise Kizaru too much (he even half-expected it). What did surprised him, however, was when he saw his hand wouldn't come back, and his fears were confirmed when he saw blood gush out of his newly acquired wound.

His Glint-Glint Fruit powers had failed.

This unnerved Kizaru so much that he held up his right arm and let out a scream of pain; Doflamingo chuckled at his expense as he moved in for another strike. Unfortunately, Kizaru's powers were back, and it was back to the routine of fighting…

Gecko Moria panted heavily as he went for Akainu again. He was able to get one strike off on him, but unfortunately, that was all he was allowed. Akainu was utterly merciless to him, burning up every part of his body he could. Moria currently had several small but painful burns all over his body.

Despite this, he knew he couldn't give up as Akainu went to strike with his lava-fist. Moria was quick and swapped himself out for his shadow, and his shadow took the brunt of the strike, but when he tried a counter attack, it only went through him.

"Damn!" he said through his heavy breaths. "If only I could hit you!"

Lava flowed down Akainu's face as he kept his stony expression. "The moment you attacked me, you made an enemy of the World Government. You brought it upon yourself, now accept the consequences!"

He cocked his right fist back and went to move, but before he could strike, he felt something clasp against his right wrist. He looked and saw that it was a pair of seastone cuffs, and the person who attached them was Victor!

Akainu wondered internally why his powers didn't stop it from happening, but he didn't have time to think long before Victor was in-between Moria and Akainu, with a hand on both their shoulders.

"Looks like fun," he said with a malicious grin on his face. "Mind if I join in?"

Before anyone answered, he sent an incredible electric shock through both of them, sending them both into screams of pain, and before long, they both collapsed from it.

Kizaru looked back to see this, but a lightning strike hit him straight through the chest; once again his powers refused to activate. He let out a scream of agony as Victor kept that same unrelenting smile…

— — —

"I gotta thank you for the diversion you created down below Daron," Victor said in his mini den-den mushi. "No doubt without you causing a ruckus down below, someone was bound to hear all the arguing and fighting in here."

On the other end, Daron answered. "Thank _you _for givin' me the signal to attack

_(Victor took notice of this and pushed something in his pocket)_

without it we woulda been stabbing in the dark."

He paused for a moment, as if he was taking in a deep breath.

"It's amazing what mercenary pirates will do these days just for some cash." He let out a little chuckle. "A few of 'em got their heads cracked, but on the whole, I'd say it was a successful operation."

"Good," Victor replied with a smile. "I'll meet with you on the ship soon."

"Roger that."

Victor put away the den-den mushi. He had an unconscious Akainu, Kizaru, Moria, and Kuma lined up in a row, each with a pair of seastone cuffs on their hands. He kneeled down and inspected each one of them, making sure none of them were dead.

He touched Kuma's body and said, "Damn…his robotic body is interfering…guess I can't…"

Before he could finish he felt Doflamingo behind him. He turned around with a grin and asked, "Where'd old Mihawk go?"

Doflamingo didn't seem to mind the question as he answered: "He took off as soon as his fight was done, muttering something about going to the New World."

"Now ain't that funny…"

Doflamingo matched Victor's smile when he said, "I gotta congratulate you on your shrewd attacks there. Staying back and letting us fight, but using your Haki to make sure we weren't completely screwed against the logia-users."

He turned back around towards the four captured men. "Don't mention it."

"I was just wonderin' what you plan to do now…"

"I know how your powers work," Victor answered rather quickly, still not bothering to turn around. "You're a master puppeteer, and as such, you have a large supply of wires around; that's what you use to cut your opponents. It's no devil fruit power, so I'm not really interested in you. You asked what I'm gonna do now, and I say it's none of your fucking business, but I'm willing to let you go for being such a great help to me."

Surprisingly, Doflamingo let out a roaring laugh. It lasted for a while before he finally said, "Sounds good to me. I suppose I should be grateful to you for finally freeing us from the World Government, but whatever." He went to the window and hopped on the sill. He glanced back once and finished, "I guess I'll catch ya later then."

Victor didn't respond as he continued to look at his unconscious captives. Within an instant, Doflamingo was gone, and Victor was alone with his thoughts. He got up and walked over to where he saw the two halves of the document Akainu was holding before Moria cut it in half in rage. Victor picked up both sides of the document, and, using his powers, he burned them on the spot, leaving only ashes in their place.

Victor then went back towards the four and took out his den-den mushi again and spoke into it. "Hey, Tobias you copy?"

Some static went on before he heard an answer. "Yeah, what's going on Victor?"

"Nothing that strays from the plan, I assure you," he answered coolly. "I trust you're on your way to the final target?"

Silence for a second. Then: "Of course, I'm on my way now."

"Excellent! Just remember that bagging this one is of utmost importance. I suppose I don't even need to explain why."

"Roger that," Tobias replied. "If I may ask though, what will you be doing now?"

Victor took out a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it. It was revealed to be Monkey D. Luffy's bounty poster. "I'm gonna pay someone else one more visit," he answered. "Let me know when you've completed your mission."

"I will Victor," was the only response before the line cut dead.

Victor crumpled up the bounty poster and held it in his hands. He used the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to burn it on the spot, leaving nothing left. Then, in the silence of the room, he let out a large happy laugh.

* * *

The newest target...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	23. Dream for Destruction

Those who wish to conquer. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**23: Dream for Destruction**

The plan from this point on was actually quite simple.

Blackbeard had spent years for this moment, and finally, it was all coming to fruition. He bided his time on Whitebeard's crew in order to acquire the Dark-Dark Fruit; the fruit he thought was the most powerful of all. Unfortunately, 4th Division Commander Thatch had gotten his hands on it first, and the rules on Whitebeard's crew were "finder's keepers."

It was not but a slight hitch in his plan.

He was able to get the better of Thatch, killing him and stealing the devil fruit so he could eat it himself. He quickly fled the ship in order to find a new crew. He first stumbled upon Van Auger, then Lafitte, Doc Q (and his horse Stronger), and Jesus Burgess.

Gathering them was simple, and from there on, they began their journey of conquest together. While their main goal was just to get to Mariejois to speak to the World Government, they stumbled across many islands (the most notable being that of Drum Kingdom), and tested their strength by overthrowing the government and challenging any fighters the island had to offer; the Blackbeard Pirates (as they came to call themselves) always won.

After a simple bid with the World Government, Blackbeard was forced to capture Fire Fist Ace in order to truly solidify his position as a Shichibukai. Although it was no easy task, he was able to do it and earn his rank.

The rest as they say, was history, as Blackbeard broke into Impel Down (using his status as a Shichibukai to do it), he was able to free Shiryu of the Rain, as well as Basco Shot, Catarina Devon, San Juan Wolf, and Abalo Pizarro; all Level Six prisoners whose deeds were better to be left unsaid.

He recruited them by promising them two things: freedom and greater power. It was child's play to go off of their greedy desires, and as such, it was a veritable cake walk to get them all to go to Marineford, where they made their appearance.

After announcing he didn't need the Shichibukai title anymore (much to Sengoku's chagrin), they proceeded in attacking and subsequently finishing off Whitebeard. Sengoku immediately left the scene, leaving the clean-up to the three Admirals. They were so busy assessing the damage; they barely paid any heed to Whitebeard's corpse for the longest time.

That was when Blackbeard went to work.

It was an ability unique to the Dark-Dark Fruit, and, as Blackbeard would put it, its greatest strength. In exchange for not being able to simply change into darkness, the fruit gives the user the ability to "steal" a corpse's devil fruit if one so desired. The process had to be done within an hour, or else their chance would be lost for all time.

Even with this seemingly powerful ability, a risk was still carried with it. It took immense concentration to get the fruit out of the user, and even then, success is not guaranteed. Indeed, if the chance failed, Blackbeard promised his newly-added Impel Down crew that they could leave

_("if he fails…do we all go our separate ways?")_

as he would never be able to live up the fame he promised them.

Fortunately, it did work, and with only a smattering of marines watching, it didn't make a big difference for Blackbeard. He now had the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, and that was enough for him. He silently stole away with his new crew into the New World, where the next stage of his plan would be enacted.

As stated earlier, the rest of his plan was quite simple. Blackbeard had spent years brooding, and while he himself would be the first to admit that at least half of his plan was impromptu, he knew what to do next.

Replace Whitebeard as a Yonko.

With that, he would gain the prestige necessary to fulfill his ultimate goal, finding One Piece. He was sure the World Government already put a hefty bounty on his head for what he did (mostly because they knew of the power he held) and he knew that it would help him immensely with his status. All he needed to do was to go and meet one of the Yonko and make sure he was recognized.

And so, Blackbeard with his ragtag crew was now on the island of Raspia, the second island in the New World. It was a small little farming island, but Blackbeard was looking for directions.

He was looking for directions on how to find Big Mom, one of the three remaining Yonko.

He and his entire crew (save for San Juan Wolf for obvious reasons) were currently in a tavern known as the "The Lucky Boot"

_("why the hell they named it that I'll never know…" he said)_

and asking around for information. Well, only a few were asking around for information would be a more accurate explanation, as only Lafitte and Van Auger were actively asking anyone anything. As soon as they entered the tavern, Blackbeard, Basco Shot, Catarina Devon, Doc Q (his horse was left outside), and Jesus Burgess immediately went to the bar to get drinks (to presumably get drunk). Shiryu of the Rain and Corrupt King Abalo Pizarro sat in the corner, while the former of the two smoked a cigar like always.

Blackbeard was the most notable in the bar, for as soon as he got his first drink, he "wouldn't shut the hell up," as Catarina would put it. He was constantly laughing and drinking and singing and just being unpleasant overall. It wasn't long before he and Basco Shot got into a drinking contest (which Blackbeard proposed and Basco couldn't turn down, being known as the Mighty Drinker); this only caused more unpleasantness among the patrons of "The Lucky Boot."

Lafitte and Van Auger, made their way around the bar, asking everyone they could find if they knew about Big Mom. Everyone said they knew him (and even said so with a certain terror), but none of them so far would be able to accurately say where he was currently hiding out. This seemed to discourage them (along with the increased merriment of their fellow crewmates), but they kept at it, determined to ask everyone at the tavern before stopping.

Lafitte eventually stopped to one of the tables in the far back, where the lights barely shined. He twirled his cane and tapped his shoes together a bit, adjusted his hat, and finally asked the long man sitting there.

"Excuse me sir, but me and my crew are looking for a man, you see."

"Is that so?" he asked.

"Indeed," he continued. "And we were wondering where we could find said man because it's quite important that we find him quickly, you see."

"Who is he?"

This is the part where Lafitte always stopped. He basically knew what to expect when he asked everyone at that tavern, and so far he had been right. As soon as he mentioned the man's name, everyone clammed up and wanted him to go away as soon as possible. That's just the kind of power that man had over people.

"Well…you see it's uh…" he said, licking his lips. "He's known as Big Mom."

"Big Mom, eh?" the man reflected. "Everyone's heard of Big Mom, one of the four Yonko. Why would you be looking for him?"

"You see, uh, we kind of need to talk to him about something."

The man sat down a little bit further in his seat. "I see, well, unfortunately, I do not know of his whereabouts. If I did, I happily would have told you."

Lafitte half expected that answer. He sighed unhappily and said, "I see. Well, thanks anyway."

He turned around and walked away; Tobias made sure he wasn't looking at him anymore.

He breathed a small sigh of relief. Tobias had entered shortly after Blackbeard had; he did a little asking around and the townspeople were able to point him in the right direction (with someone as memorable-looking as Blackbeard, he certainly hoped so).

Tobias touched the gun at his side.

_"Remember," Victor had said._ _"He's the most valuable target so far; I don't want you killing him. You can wound him as much as you like, just as long as he isn't dead when he gets to me."_

He took the gun in his hand and brought it under the table. His aim had to be precise; enough of a shot to wound him, but not enough to kill him. Tobias let out a shaky breath as he pointed the gun at his laughing target…

— — —

Lafitte had a strange feeling about that man. He didn't react like the others he questioned, and this made him somewhat suspicious. The best he could come up with is that the man really did know where Big Mom was, and decided to hide it from him. Regardless, it was enough to send him back to the man for a second round of questions.

He turned around to see Tobias aiming a pistol towards the bar. He quickly looked in the direction and saw it was pointed at Blackbeard. He did a quick double-take, before finally yelling:

"Blackbeard, look out!"

Blackbeard turned just as Tobias took the shot. The gun rang out, silencing everyone in the bar (and got them to flee almost immediately, with the remaining following suit within a minute). Unfortunately for Tobias, Blackbeard was warned in time and was able to point his left hand at the bullet and use the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit to stop it from hitting him.

Tobias cursed Lafitte as he threw the gun to the side. Van Auger was quick on the offensive as he quickly took out his rifle and shot it at Tobias. Fortunately for Tobias, he saw this move coming and was able to kick the table up to block the bullets from hitting him; it was Van Auger's time to curse.

Tobias threw the table aside and boldly leapt over to where Blackbeard and his entire crew were now gathered.

"What the hell's the matter with you, you bastard?" Blackbeard asked in anger. "What did I ever do to you?"

"It's not what you have done to me," Tobias coolly replied. "It's what you're _going_ to do to this world, and I'm afraid we can't stand for that."

"Zehahahahahahaha!" Blackbeard laughed out loud. "What the hell can you do? Your little assassination attempt failed, and now you've got nothing."

"That's what you think," Tobias replied, a small grin appearing on his face.

He put his hand behind his back and quickly shot it back out with a gun now in his hand. Blackbeard looked moderately surprised, but it was Van Auger who shot the gun right out of his hand, letting Tobias have a small grunt of pain.

Blackbeard laughed at this again, and stood up. "You're bold, I'll give you that, but you don't know who you're dealing with. You're trying to kill the future Pirate King!"

Tobias stayed quiet for a second, before finally responding, "Not if we have anything to do about it."

Something about this seemed to unnerve Blackbeard visibly for a second. He quickly realized what he did, however, and covered it up with another raucous laugh. He pointed to Doc Q and Jesus Burgess saying, "You guys take care of him; he's not even worth my time."

He began to walk away, signaling the rest of his crew. "This island's a waste of time; come meet us back on the ship when you're done cleaning up the trash."

Blackbeard reached the door and looked back at Tobias. "It was real nice meetin' ya kid, but this is the last time we get to meet."

Tobias simply stared back at him, not answering. After several seconds, Blackbeard opened the door and said, "It was nice knowin' ya, zehahahahahahaha!"

He left "The Lucky Boot" along with his entire crew, save for Doc Q and Jesus, who simply stared back at Tobias grim-faced. Jesus pointed to Tobias and made a gesture of a finger across his own throat. "You're going down little man!"

Tobias smiled a bit at this, and retorted, "Sorry, but I'm gonna have to take care of you relatively quickly; got a mission and all, you know."

Jesus and Doc Q both laughed out loud in the now empty tavern. Then, without a moments notice, they both sprung into action, going on both sides of Tobias. "Let's take him out Doc!"

"Sounds good to me!"

Tobias grinned a little bigger, as he looked at both of them, a fierce determination burning in his eyes…

— — —

Tobias walked out a few minutes later, dusting off his hands, not a scratch appeared on his body. He looked around for a few seconds, and then took a map out, inspecting it.

"He's most likely at a dock, but I wonder which one it is…"

* * *

In hot pursuit...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	24. Dream for Destruction 2: Black Hole Sun

Determination for the Catch...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**24: Dream for Destruction 2- Black Hole Sun**

Colossal Battleship San Juan Wolf was known for a few things.

The first and most obvious one was his massive size. Having been born a giant, he was no stranger to large people. He, as it turned out, was special, even among the giants. He would bear the dubious honor of being known as the world's largest man. It was obvious from when he was a child that he was big, even for giant standards. His mother accounted this for him eating all of his protein as a child, but everyone knew that was a lie.

San Juan was just born that way, nothing more, and nothing less. He had received criticisms for it his entire life. Even while living with the giant children, he was ridiculed for being so big and different looking. His most common nicknames were "Big Foot," "Large Ass," and his personal favorite, "Rice-Ball Head."

While he wouldn't know it then, Wolf had grown a certain loathing for the children that teased him, and as such, it aided in his decision to become a pirate. He left as soon as he could to get out on the seas, and it wouldn't be long before he became world famous.

The second thing he was known for, however, was less known among the general public: Wolf was a great swimmer. He had a natural talent for it ever since he was a kid, and he absolutely loved to be out in the water. He would swim day and night, practicing his form, and before long, he had become the best swimmer on his island.

It was his favorite thing to do, so naturally, he would carry it over to when he became a pirate; it is at this point that he began to earn his nickname.

Not before long, Wolf had recruited a crew of pirates. While not all of them were, most of his crew consisted of giants. Therefore, there was a problem when it came to what kind of ship they were going to use. Eventually, San Juan Wolf came up with a solution.

He was to become the ship.

It made sense to him; he was a great swimmer, and he was big enough to fit his entire crew quite comfortably. Although they had to give up some of the conveniences a normal ship would have, the crew agreed, and before long, a two-level ship complete with a massive deck, cannons, and even a front design were made and was attached to the back of Wolf. It was fitted for his back, and stayed on quite nicely.

In order to avoid things falling off of the deck, his crew had to bolt down everything to the deck, and the rest, as they say, is history. He was soon dubbed the name Colossal Battleship, and Wolf became world-famous.

When he was captured and taken to Impel Down, the ship was stripped from his back, and this made Wolf seem to have a bit of longing. As soon as Blackbeard freed him (who also knew about his legacy), he built a three-level ship to put on the back, with many of the same things as the old one.

And so Wolf was now wading in water at the dock, with Blackbeard and his entire crew on his back waiting for Jesus Burgess and Doc Q to arrive.

Van Auger looked at his watch and said, "They should have been done by now…"

"Zehahahaha! You know them; they're probably just having a bit of fun with the poor guy!"

Shiryu kept quiet and lit a new cigar.

It had been a good twenty minutes after the crew left "The Lucky Boot," and the entire crew was beginning to get restless (save for Blackbeard who was still in a relatively happy mood).

After another three minutes, they began to hear something strange in the sky.

Van Auger inspected it with his rifle scope, and as soon as he saw it, a look of dread came over his face. _"MOVE QUICKLY!"_

Everyone obeyed as a second after they did, a massive battleship fell upon the deck, shattering into thousands of pieces and sending shrapnel everywhere. "The fuck was that?" Blackbeard yelled as a piece of shrapnel hit his face.

Seconds after, Tobias landed neatly on the deck where no debris was. "What a shame, I was trying to take you all out at once, but I guess I was a bit too obvious…"

"You!" Blackbeard yelled, in a fury now.

Tobias looked solemnly up and simply raised his hand in a lackluster way. "Hey…"

"What happened to Doc Q and Jesus?" demanded Lafitte.

"Don't worry about them," Tobias responded. "One of them is a doctor right? They should be fine."

"You bastard!" Blackbeard cursed.

Tobias sighed as he said, "I've said it once before, and I don't feel like much saying it again; we're going to stop your journey now Blackbeard."

Blackbeard scowled as Van Auger seemed to have enough of this. He quickly picked up his rifle, aimed, and shot. Tobias saw this coming, as he simply stated, "Shield."

As soon as he said that, a large rectangular transparent yellow shield appeared in front of Tobias, the bullet bouncing harmlessly off of it. As soon as the shield disappeared, a gun seemed to appear in Tobias's hand as he quickly aimed and shot at Van Auger.

He attempted to move, but he saw that he couldn't. "Stop," Tobias said, as Van Auger looked down and saw a black substance around his feet, stopping him from moving.

He didn't have time to question what happened as Tobias's bullet struck him in the torso, sending him falling to the floor, the black substance disappearing. "What the hell…" Blackbeard started. "Lafitte, get him!"

Lafitte moved quickly, his tap shoes making a clacking noise as he did it, pulling the sheath off of his cane, revealing it to be a sword. Tobias stood rooted on the spot as he closed his eyes, spread his arms out wide, and said, "Knives."

Suddenly then, a large amount of floating knives, tips pointing away from Tobias, appeared in front of him in a seven-by-seven square. Lafitte saw this and quickly skidded to a stop, but Tobias was unfortunately faster then him, as he threw his arms together, sending all of the knives flying towards Lafitte.

Lafitte was able to fend off some knives with his sword, but wasn't able to escape several stabbing pains to non-vital organs. He spat out a good amount of blood as his hat fell off and hit the ground right before he did.

Blackbeard stood astonished. This man had taken out four members of his crew without as much as a scratch on him. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. After a second, he finally asked, "What kind of devil fruit did you eat?"

Tobias looked up and locked eyes with Blackbeard. "Good question," he said. "I ate the Dream-Dream Fruit; it allows me to dream anything I want up into existence and get rid of it as I see fit. I believe a man named Dr. Vegapunk would rank it very high on the powerful devil fruit list, don't you think?"

"Shut up!" Blackbeard said, clenching his teeth.

"You probably thought your devil fruit was the strongest," Tobias taunted. "You probably thought that you were the only one who could have more than one devil fruit power, but let me tell you right now that if you think you are the only one who can do that, then you are sorely mistaken."

_"SHUT UP!"_

Blackbeard touched his left hand to the ground as the darkness took over. "Black Hole!"

Tobias deftly leapt, avoiding the darkness that was sucking everything up on the deck. Blackbeard was quick, however, and put his hand away from the ground and pointed it at Tobias. "Black Vortex!"

Gravity flew out of Blackbeard's hand and caught onto Tobias, dragging him towards him. Tobias looked surprisingly calm as he said, "Dream-Dream Shield!"

The same transparent yellow shield appeared between him and Blackbeard, and Tobias was able to angle himself so his legs would hit it, and he used it to push off into the sky, flying over Blackbeard. He saw the surprise on his face as Tobias smirked. "Dream-Dream Crush!"

Suddenly, a large black rectangular object, similarly shaped to an anvil, appeared over Tobias's head. He looked down directly at Blackbeard and threw his arms down, sending the object towards him. Blackbeard thought fast as he held out his left arm yelling, "Liberation!"

All of the objects he sucked in flew out towards the object, knocking it off course and onto the ground besides him. Tobias didn't mind, however, as he landed behind Blackbeard with a gun he dreamed into his hand. He quickly turned around and pointed it to his adversary.

Blackbeard foresaw this and was able to quickly turn around and swing his right arm towards his chest, throwing it out and sending a massive shockwave towards Tobias. "Dream-Dream Shield!" he said quickly, as the shield appeared in front of him.

It didn't seem to be enough, however, as Blackbeard sent another more powerful one to destroy the shield and strike Tobias head-on, sending him flying across the deck.

"Zehahahahaha!" he laughed triumphantly. "Looks like you can't handle a guy who's got control of _two _devil fruits can you!"

Much to his surprise, Tobias stood up, blood running down his head and chest, but otherwise not looking too affected. "I just noticed," he said, pointing to Blackbeard. "You only use your Dark-Dark Fruit powers with your left hand, and you use your Tremor-Tremor Fruit powers with right. I wonder why that is…"

"So?"

"Well it would appear that you stealing another person's devil fruit comes with a risk. In other words, you gave up your Dark-Dark Fruit abilities in your right hand in turn for your Tremor-Tremor Fruit abilities."

"When will you shut the hell up?" Blackbeard yelled, sending another shockwave towards him.

Tobias wouldn't be hit a second time, however, as he leapt to the side and said, "Dream-Dream Knives!"

The same knives that took down Lafitte appeared in front of him as he threw them all towards Blackbeard. He was able to summon a black hole to stop them all, but that was all Tobias needed, as he was suddenly behind the surprised Blackbeard with another gun in his hand.

He didn't waste his time as he quickly fired, hitting Blackbeard in the lower-right portion of his chest. Blood shot out of his chest as Blackbeard grunted in pain. "And it seems that in return for being able to steal and cancel out other people's devil fruits," Tobias said in a surprisingly normal tone, "you're not able to turn into darkness to avoid normal attacks."

Blackbeard clutched his new wound and turned around, sending another shockwave towards Tobias. It hit dead on, shattering his body. Blackbeard let out a triumphant laugh only for a second, before he realized that his body broke a little too easily. With a second look, he saw that it was made out of some kind of gray substance.

"The hell is that?"  
His blood turned cold as he heard the answer from behind him. "That was a Dream-Dream Sculpture; looks just like the real thing doesn't it?"

Blackbeard was about to turn around when he heard: "Dream-Dream Stop!"

His legs were suddenly frozen as he saw the same black substance on his feet that affected Van Auger. "You…" he started.

Tobias didn't waste any time, however, as he dreamed up a pair of seastone cuffs and clasped it onto Blackbeard's left wrist. Blackbeard grunted in frustration just before Tobias dreamed up a sword and stabbed him in a non-vital spot.

With a mix of pain and fear, Blackbeard collapsed.

Tobias threw away the sword and wiped his hands. He looked up at the remaining members of the Blackbeard Crew and said, "You must not have cared for him that much to just stand around and watch me beat him."

Shiryu decided to speak for the group. He took a puff of his cigar before saying, "We didn't know him that long, and I'm sure I speak for everybody when I say that he was a colossal fool."

Everyone seemed to nod at this.

"Well that's just great," Tobias said, clapping his hands together. "As it turns out, we have a few spots open in our crew. So how would you like to ditch him and join up with us; I assure you our boss is no fool."

Shiryu took another puff of his cigar. "I guess I always knew that we would split up eventually. It looks like Blackbeard's run is over, so I'm in." He looked over at the others. "You guys?"

"As long as the goal stays the same, I'm fine," Devon answered.

"Uhhh…I'm in," Basco said.

"Back in my day I was known for betrayal," snickered Pizarro.

"Sounds good to me!" San Juan Wolf yelled from the water.

They could all hear Blackbeard groan, "You…traitors…"

Tobias gave him a small kick and answered, "That's what you get for choosing such well-known cutthroats as your crewmen. It was bound to happen."

"So what now?" asked Shiryu, stomping on his finished cigar.

"Now we set sail," Tobias said. "I'm sure Mr. Wolf here is more than capable of taking us where we need to go."

"That's right!" they heard Wolf say.

"But first…" Tobias looked around at the fallen Blackbeard crewmembers. "…I don't think they'd so willingly abandon their Captain, so unfortunately, they're going to have to leave."

"Just leave it to us," Shiryu said, unsheathing his sword.

"Oh no," said a slightly-surprised Tobias. "I just meant we should kick them off the ship."

Shiryu sheathed his sword with a glum expression.

They threw Van Auger and Lafitte onto the docks before San Juan Wolf started swimming them away.

Tobias walked a little closer to the barely-conscious Blackbeard and said, "Oh, and by the way, while your devil fruit lets you steal from dead devil fruit users, I'm afraid ours needs you alive. Don't worry, though, you'll be dead soon enough."

Blackbeard let out one final groan before finally blacking out.

* * *

Even as Blackbeard falls...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	25. Shuffle

A meeting in the dark. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**25: Shuffle**

It was rapidly approaching night time now.

Monkey D. Luffy lied on his back on the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_, staring up at the more prominent crescent moon. His expression was that of a blank stare, as if he was thinking of everything and nothing at the same time. His breathing was slow and calm, as if the bright light of the moon had some kind of mystical sway over him.

Most of his wounds were healed now. Whoever was the doctor on Ivankov's ship certainly did a good job in patching up (and even Luffy knew he needed a lot of patching). Over the course of his time being alone, he took off more and more bandages all of the time when he realized he was healed. He was now down to a few bandages on his chest and a rather large swath of white cloth on his right cheek acting as a bandage.

Sighing, he turned his head lazily to the left to see his famous straw hat lying right besides him. Internally, he was grateful it wasn't lost after he blacked out at the Battle of Marineford. After a few seconds, his stare lingered, and he went back to looking up at the crescent moon.

He had been alone on the _Thousand Sunny _for a while now (Luffy wasn't sure of the exact day, but he was thinking somewhere around a week or maybe longer), and more and more he felt himself getting lonelier. With each passing day, he wished just a little more that his crew would show up out of the blue on the ship, and act as if nothing had happened; he wanted that more than anything now.

Dark King Silvers Rayleigh, a.k.a. First Mate of Gold Roger the Pirate King, had stopped by periodically throughout the days with a bottle of alcohol in one hand and a box of coating supplies in the other. Once or twice Luffy had enquired why his schedule on coating the ship was so shoddy and all over the place, and he simply smiled and replied:

_"I get caught up gambling and drinking. What can I say?"_

Normally, Luffy would have found this hilarious, but due to the circumstances, he could only nod listlessly and leave Silvers to his work. During the day, he spent most of his time in his room. Whenever he got hungry, he went over to Shakuyaku's (Shakky for short) "Rip-Off Bar" for food and drink (it was at this point that Luffy missed having a chef on hand).

Other than his visits to the "Rip-Off Bar" to eat and converse with Hachi, Camie, and Pappug (who were all recovering splendidly), Luffy stayed secluded in his ship, patiently waiting for his crewmates return. He also dare not leave the island to go searching, lest he either get lost or miss out on finding any of his crewmates. The best he could do is stay on the ship and trust that his friends are on their way now.

To anyone who knew Luffy for even a minute, this type of behavior was strange. Normally he wouldn't be fine with "being patient" or "being secluded," but if anyone knew the circumstances Luffy was in and had recently been through, they would understand his sudden change of character.

But that would all end tonight.

Luffy couldn't deny the fact that he missed Ace dearly and felt responsible for his death—as his last few days of sadness and crying would account for—but he knew that at some point, the pity-party would have to end, and he would be forced to move on. He said to himself that tonight, he would just lie out on the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_ and stare up at the night sky. He promised himself that at the end of this, he would come to a clear decision that he wouldn't regret.

He picked up the hat at his side and put it on his head. He had resolved that he would no longer beat himself up over what had happened, or spend his days moping around and crying. True, he would feel sadness and sorrow for years to come, but the way he was dealing with it now was not the way Ace would have wanted it. Therefore, he resolved under the crescent moon that he would live his life to the fullest in respect to his lost brother Ace.

Luffy slowly sat up and scratched the back of his head. Surprisingly, he let out a massive grin. "Sorry Ace," he said aloud. "You know I miss you, but I also know that you know that what I'm doing is wrong. So I hope you understand that I don't beat myself up over what happened anymore."

"What truly touching words."

Luffy was immediately up on his feet when he heard these foreign words. He looked around the ship and saw Victor, perched atop the side of the ship, looking down at him with his piercing blue eyes and smiling at the young Captain.

Surprisingly, Luffy didn't react angrily, but more with curiosity. "Who're you mister, and what are you doing on my ship?"

Victor hopped off the side and onto the deck, walking towards Luffy with an extended hand. "Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name."

"Huh?"

Victor shook his head. "Never mind. I'm Sir Prize, and I hope we can get to know each other later."

Luffy shook Victor's hand and smiled. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, but people know me as Straw Hat Luffy."

"I know," Victor replied. "I've been keeping my eye on you for quite a while Mr. Straw Hat."

"You have?"

"Like when you were able to elude Blackbeard and his forces and make it up to Skypiea. Thankfully, we were able to discover Enel and his incredibly useful Rumble-Rumble Fruit powers."

"Hey, how did you—"

Victor continued. "Or when you went against CP9's Rob Lucci after challenging the entire marine base on Enies Lobby; and all to save Nico Robin, the woman who is a plague to any established organization."

Luffy took a step back and demanded, "How the hell do you know all of this?"

"Or when you fought against Gecko Moria's legions of undead—without a shadow no less—all for the sake of a poor skeleton with a bond for a whale."

_"Answer me dammit!"_

Victor smirked at this, but continued anyway. "Or would it be your most recent break in at Impel Down in an attempt to free your brother Ace. Oh, but you were a bit too late weren't you? No matter, you just need to go to Marineford with all of your break-out buddies to try and stop his execution. And…I think we all know how that turned out don't we?"

_"Shut up!"_ Luffy roared, throwing his fist back and launching it at Victor. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

Before Luffy could connect, Victor appeared only a few paces behind him. "You see," he explained, "like Blackbeard, I also have an eye for talent; I suppose you could say my years of experience led to that. Ever since I've heard about your escapades in Alabasta and how you beat Crocodile, one of the Shichibukai…well, I just had to keep following your story, seeing what you would do next."

Luffy swung his arm around, but Victor disappeared and was now in front of him. "And now is the time for me to finish you. I can't be having you go into the New World and getting One Piece now can I? So I'm afraid your journey ends here."

Before Luffy could strike, he pointed his fist at him and yelled, "20 Million Volt Vari!"

A large electric blast shot out of his arm and hit Luffy dead-on. Fortunately, his rubber body was a natural insulator and he appeared unharmed (albeit the _Thousand Sunny_ took a hit).

Surprise was clearly evident on Luffy's face when he Victor stared quizzically for a second. "That's strange…" He suddenly hit his fist on the palm of his hand saying, "Of course, you're a Rubber-Man, so electricity won't do anything to you. How silly of me."

"That was Enel's move," Luffy said somewhat quietly. "How can you do that?"

"I think it should be obvious," Victor mocked. "But don't worry, if it isn't, it all will be soon."

Luffy didn't take anymore as he leapt in the air and shot several fists at Victor. "Gum-Gum Gatling!"

Unfortunately, all of the blows seemed to go through him, but he wasn't transformed into lightning, it was something else. "Let's try this," Victor said, as Luffy landed on the ground again.

Before Luffy could move again, Victor rushed at him with a tremendous speed

_(of light)_

and as soon as Luffy knew what it was, it was too late; Victor lifted his glowing leg up to Luffy's shoulder. "Hey, that's—" he started, but was cut off when Victor delivered the kick to his face, sending him flying across the deck.

"That's one of Kizaru's moves," he said, now uninterrupted. "How can you be using both Enel and Kizaru's moves?"

Victor made a taunting movement with his hand and smirked, "Attack again to find out."

Luffy couldn't think of a better option, as he rushed in again. He stretched his arms back and started, "Gum-Gum…"

"Slow-Slow Beam!"

Victor pointed his hand at Luffy and shot out a purple beam, hitting him dead-on. Completely caught off guard, Luffy was frozen for thirty seconds. Victor nonchalantly walked closer to him, saying:

"Scary isn't it? Getting caught in the grip of such an attack again. Of course we learned about Foxy's power through your Davy Back Fight with him, but that's a story for another day. For now…I understand that you're weak against sharp attacks, not blunt ones."

With that, Victor raised his arms in a fighting position and as Luffy clearly saw, his entire arm and fingers were turned into blades. "Another favorite," he grinned, "and completely effective!"

He struck Luffy with the blades several times all over the front of his body. When Victor was done, he started to walk away and stated, "You have four seconds left."

When those four seconds passed, pain immediately sprang from Luffy's body, as all of the cuts opened up and blood sprayed from every cut he received. The pain was so great that he collapsed on his knees and started breathing heavily. Victor had turned around at this point.

"Not too fun is it?"

Luffy's breath was ragged as he eventually asked, "What's…the name…of your devil fruit…?"

Victor's grin got even bigger. He clapped his hands several times before finally saying, "Bravo! You figured it out! Most people would guess that I somehow imitate them through some kind of scientific advancement, but they'd be wrong…dead wrong."

"What…does it do…?"

"You asked for its name first, and let me just tell you, that my devil fruit has no name."

It took Luffy a second to take this in, before Victor continued.

"As for what it does, well, if you were to ask me, I'd say it's the most powerful devil fruit on the planet. Its powers are quite simply really; you see, it allows me to reach into a live devil fruit user's body and steal the fruit right out of them, just like that."

He snapped his fingers.

"But wait, that's not all! You see, this is one of the very few devil fruits that cancels out the rule of 'you can only eat one devil fruit per person'. Indeed, I am able to eat as many devil fruits as I please, and all of their powers are bestowed upon me. Pretty neat, huh?"

Luffy only sat there, continuing to breath raggedly.

"But talk is cheap right?" he continued. "Even without all of the powers I just showed you, I have a much much more, so let's get right down to showing you so I can steal your devil fruit as well."

Luffy struggled to get to his feet, panting, "I'm not gonna…let you take my devil fruit. I'd rather die than have that happen."

"How ironic," Victor laughed. " 'Cause that's exactly what will happen."

Smoke suddenly appeared around Luffy as he said, "Gear Second!"

Victor continued to grin as Luffy took off and appeared to the side of Victor. "Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!"

Unfortunately for Luffy, he didn't hit Victor, but rather, he hit Victor's shadow, which he switched places with. Luffy grunted as Victor pointed his arm towards a metallic object on the ship and lifted his hand up. It flew towards him and as soon as he got it, he threw it towards Luffy, who caught it on instinct.

"Here, hold onto this for a second."

"Huh?"

Victor held his hand out at Luffy and used Kidd's devil fruit powers of magnetism to attract the metallic object over to him. Luffy sped towards him, not thinking to let go of the object in panic, as Victor cocked back his free fist, turning it into lava.

"Hey! Don't tell me that's Akainu's—"

It was too late as Victor released the blow with deadly force, hitting Luffy square in the chest. His rubber body bounced back to absorb the shock, but the heat of the lava utterly demolished his shirt and burned his chest badly. Luffy screamed in pain as he flew far and landed on his back, staring up at the crescent moon in pain.

Victor slowly walked over to the still Luffy. "You know, I really would have liked to have your brother's devil fruit powers as well…" He stopped right in front of Luffy. "…Oh well, guess I'll have to make do with you."

"You bastard!" Luffy said, quickly throwing himself up and throwing a punch at his enemy.

Victor was ready, however, as he caught his arm and used his other hand to put over Luffy's face, slamming him back into the ground with dizzying efficiency. Still holding him down, he used his now free hand and started to bring it to Luffy's chest.

"Just accept your fate," he said, bringing his hand even closer still.

Then, Luffy saw the strangest thing he'd ever thought he'd see. As soon as Victor's hand touched Luffy's chest, it began to almost…melt into Luffy's body, as his arm continued to go in deeper. Not feeling any pain, but realizing what was going on, Luffy let out a massive cry of panic.

"There we are," Victor said with a grin, as he was about to pull his arm out, presumably with Luffy's devil fruit in his hand.

Before he could, however, he felt a strange force and before he could react, he was kicked in the side of the head, and sent flying out of Luffy, pulling his arm out without the devil fruit, leaving Luffy safe. Luffy looked up to see Silvers Rayleigh standing there with a grimace on his face.

"I come for some late night coating and this is what I find…"

Victor was up with blood streaming down the side of his head. This time, he had no humorous retorts or sayings as he realized who it was. "You!" was all he barked in anger.

"Still, I didn't think it would be you, Victor…" Silvers said with a tone of seriousness.

"I thought you died a long time ago Rayleigh!" he shot back, clearly angered.

Rayleigh looked like he'd almost laugh at this, but kept it in. "Unfortunately for you, that's not the case." He struck up a fighting stance. "Now you'll deal with me instead of the boy."

Victor did laugh at this, however. When it died down, he said, "As if I'd fight against you and nearly die to your damned Haki! The boy isn't worth that!"

Silvers succeeded with his threat and said, "Then you'd better go quickly, before I decide to strike you again."

Victor only growled at this, saying, "You can only protect him for so long, and when he's finally out of your sight, I'll be ready!"

He was about to leave, but Luffy raised a weak hand up. "Wait!" he tried to yell, but only got off with a louder-than-normal voice. "Tell me…who are you?"

After several seconds of silence, Victor turned his back to Luffy, but finally answered. "I'm the man who is going to change the entire world…Victor D. Capere."

With that, Victor disappeared, leaving Luffy and Silvers alone in the unquiet dark.

* * *

And the Act left off...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	26. Band for Conspiracy

The beginning of the Second Act, morning after the attack on the _Thousand Sunny_...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

_Act 2: Over the Edge_

'Cause I'm a Picker  
I'm a Grinner  
I'm a Lover  
And I'm a Sinner  
I play my music in the Sun  
I'm a Joker  
I'm a Smoker  
I'm a Midnight Toker  
I sure don't want to hurt no one  
—Steve Miller Band

I'm the Fear that keeps you awake  
I'm the Shadows on the wall  
I'm the Monsters they become  
I'm the Nightmare in your skull  
I'm a Dagger in your back  
An extra turn upon the rack  
I'm the Quivering of your heart  
A stabbing Pain, a sudden Start  
—Voltaire

—

**26: Band for Conspiracy**

The sun rose as it normally did, without fail or obstacle; the sun rose at the hour it always does, as if it was hardwired to always rise at that hour regardless of what happened. The day began as it normally did, completely ignorant of what went on the night before, the night where fates clashed and destinies were changed.

For Trafalgar Law, however, sleep didn't come well, and the rising of the day meant little to nothing to him, as he was far too tired to appreciate it. Despite having fiercely loyal companions like Bepo and Jean Bart to help watch over him, Law didn't enjoy having to be cared for, and as such, denied any help their offer of guarding him while he slept.

There was a reason, of course, for such an action to be taken (normally the laid-back Law would enjoy taking naps whenever he could), and it came in the form of unknown assailants…

— — —

Since the viewing of the Whitebeard War, and seeing how it ended with Sengoku taking the old man out with his own weapon (which Law saw as some form of irony) and how costly the battle was, Law had resolved to leave Sabaody Archipelago with his crew within the week, still waiting on some business at the island.

After a particular night of bad dreams on the day of his departure, Law went to a small restaurant for some breakfast before their departure. After an eventless meal, he, Jean Bart, and Bepo began to walk back to their submarine known as _Heartless_ (which Law named out of the irony of his crew name).

Before they could get close to their ship, however, three men approached Law and asked who he was. Law naturally said who he was with a small smirk and asked what they wanted; their response was that of an attack.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Jean Bart had yelled in anger.

"Sorry," one said, "but we have orders to capture your Captain there."

"Orders from whom?" Law had inquired.

One smirked and said, "Direct orders from Captain Kaede of the Zoan Corps. While we're not sure on the purpose, we've been collecting you Supernovas like you from all over." He was then scolded by the other two for giving away too much information.

This of course made no sense to Law, but he knew what he had to do; he had to fight them. Unfortunately, all three of them were Zoan Fruit users, and they transformed for battle. One took the form of a red fox (not too strong but agile), a tarantula spider (strong but slow), and a brown-furred hare (fast with powerful legs).

The fox took on Bepo, the tarantula attacked Jean Bart, while the hare took on Law. The hare was incredibly fast and was able to kick Law in the chest with both of his powerful legs to send him flying. He easily got up, however, and before the Hare could hit him again, Law prepared his devil fruit powers.

The Hare was about to strike, when suddenly he leapt up to unbelievable heights bragging, "We know all about your powers with the Split-Split Fruit! There's no way I'm gonna get in that semi-circle around you unprepared!"

Law grimaced as he shouldered his nodachi and began to move his right hand in a circle. After a few seconds, a blue energy disk appeared in his hand, and while the Hare was flying towards him in the air, Law threw the disk. The Hare wasn't able to maneuver in the air, and took the disk full force to the neck.

As soon as it hit him, his head disconnected to his head, but no blood flew out. The Hare immediately knew what had happened as his body landed on the floor as his head flew towards Law's hand. He threw it up and down as the Hare yelled angrily.

"You bastard! Do you know what's gonna happen to you when Captain Kaede hears about this? You're gonna die!"

Law couldn't help but smile at his antics as he said, "You act like you're going back to your Captain."

"Huh? Whaddya mea—"

Law didn't let him finish as he simply threw his head into a body of water nearby, him shouting obscenities all the way. Needless to say, that when Law turned to see how his crewmembers were doing, they had already finished off the clearly unprepared Fox and Tarantula. Law ordered them put into the water too (which despite their screaming protests, happened anyways), as his fertile mind went over what he just heard from the three...

Despite the plans of leaving that day for Fishman Island, Law decided to test the validity of the three Zoan-Users statements. He spent the rest of the day with Bepo and Jean Bart, trying to find any of the other Supernovas

_(we've been collecting Supernovas like you from all over)_

on the island. He happened to know that not many, if any, of them left the island of Sabaody, but despite a near entire day of searching, he didn't come up with a single clue as to where any of them were.

— — —

A clearly tired Law looked over and saw fellow Supernova Jewelry Bonney sleeping like a child. He couldn't help but let out a small laugh at how she was calmer about this than he was, which was certainly saying something.

Law had met her near sundown the previous day, and despite not finding any information about her in any tavern or restaurant (which he understood she frequented quite often), him noticing where she was came in the form of a scream.

Law, Bepo, and Jean Bart quickly bolted to where that was, as Law mentally noted that it was probably a Supernova getting attacked like he did. They came upon the scene of the crime to see that it wasn't a Supernova screaming like Law thought, but it was the screams of the attackers upon Jewelry Bonney, who probably didn't know too much about her powers.

There was a much larger group that attacked her and two of her crewmates, but it looked like none of them were Devil Fruit Users, just a scattering of swordsmen and martial artists. Bonney, being a master of martial arts herself, must have taken care of them with ease with her devil fruit power.

All of the attacks stood before her either as old men or children, as Bonney herself just laughed at their predicament before knocking them out completely. Despite Law seeing that she was fine on her own, he went towards her anyway just to talk to her.

— — —

"Like hell I'm gonna do that!" she yelled indignantly.

Law took a step back and raised his hands up in a flustered motion. "Relax, relax, I just think it would be best to go about things that way."

"Hmph! How would it look if two Supernovas joined together? It would be embarrassing to both of our crews!"

Law sighed as he adjusted his hat. "Look, normally I would be condemning this route as well, but look Bonney, to my knowledge, we're the only two Supernovas left. I think it would be lame if we were to both die separately without going to the New World."

Law had come up to the victorious Bonney and asked to talk. She agreed, a little surprised that another Supernova wanted to talk instead of battle, but she pushed it out of her mind. Law explained to her that he was attacked as well and wanted to know what her attackers talked to her about.

She said they wanted to "capture" her, but wouldn't let her know why. Law looked distressed at this as he said that he thought something big was going on. He explained he couldn't find any other Supernovas and that their disappearances and their attempts to get "captured" were linked.

Therefore, he suggested they stick together and "merge" their crew into one for the time being, just to make sure they wouldn't get caught off-guard and captured individually, which of course Bonney went against.

"Who cares if you think it's 'lame'?" she asked in a mocking tone. "We have our reputations to consider here!"

"What good is a reputation if you're dead?" he simply asked.

Bonney laughed at this statement before replying. "As if I'm ever gonna get caught. I'm just too quick for them, as you can see." She kicked at the unconscious attackers around her.

"It was enough for now, but what if they send more powerful people after you?"

Bonney seemed personally offended by this as she lunged at Law with her hands out. "I have the power of the Age-Age Fruit and it can easily take on anyone who tries to attack me, just like you!"

She threw her right palm at Law's chest, but he turned to the side and grabbed her arm. "But it only works if you touch the victim correct?" he asked with a small smirk.

"That's right!" Bonney laughed as she threw her other palm at Law.

Before she could even touch him, however, her hand separated from her body and flew into the air. She was put off by this as her captured hand separated too and flew high above both of them.

"What…?"

"As you can see, I have the power of the Split-Split Fruit," he explained, "and while I'm sure that it's a powerful fruit, even I'm not naïve enough to think no one can beat me."

"Look," he continued, "I'm not too comfortable with this idea either, but even I realize the gravity of the situation going on here. That's why I'm suggest you and I team up and go to the New World together to try and get to the bottom of this plan that has seemed to have captured all of the other Supernovas."

Bonney looked down to avoid Law's gaze. With a sigh, he returned her hands back to her arms. "But in the end it's your call," he said. "If you're truly against it, you can do whatever you want, but mark my words, you're gonna get in trouble again, and it won't be a pleasant sight."

When he saw that she wasn't responding, he turned around and said, "Come on Bepo, Jean Bart, let's get out of her hair."

He started walking, but almost immediately had his arm grabbed. He turned around to see Bonney there. "Wait…I think we should work together…"

Internally, Law breathed a sigh of relief.

— — —

When the sun was entirely up, Law got up with it. He looked over to see Bonney still sleeping before he gently shook her with his foot. "Come on, it's time to get up."

She responded with an incoherent babble before going back to sleep.

After forming their group, Bonney and Law decided it would be best if they personally stuck together with their most trusted crewmen, as their own crew wouldn't be attacked without them being there. Bonney reluctantly agreed, but she insisted that they sleep on her own personal ship. Not wanting to cause any arguments, Law agreed.

"Come on," he insisted to the still sleeping girl. "We need to leave early if we're ever gonna make any good time."

"Just give me five more minutes…" she said.

Law sighed as he slumped back down. When five minutes passed and she still wouldn't get up, he had to resort to rolling her off of her bed.

"What the hell?" she said, standing up and rubbing her head.

"You wouldn't get up," he said calmly. "Now come on, we got to go."

"Go where?"

"To my ship, where else?"

Bonney seemed confused by this statement. "What do you mean? We're taking my ship together!"

Law shook his head as he realized he had to explain. "You see, your ship is a large galleon, nothing wrong with that, but it sure doesn't help with any kind of subterfuge. My ship, on the other hand, is a submarine, a ship that can go underwater to avoid being detected. So naturally, the best ship to take to avoid getting attacked again, would have to be the submarine. Your ship can follow, but we're personally going on my ship."

Bonney opened her mouth to argue, but realized his logic was sound. She closed it again and with a somewhat negative attitude, went with him to go to his ship.

— — —

It took them a few minutes to walk over to the ship, but it was there that they met someone they never would have expected to.

The man stood by the raised submarine at the dock, his back against it. He smiled as he saw Law and Bonney come over with their few crewmembers, as he knocked his arm against the submarine, making a metallic clang.

"Hello there. Trafalgar Law I presume?"

"You're—" Bonney started.

"Sir Crocodile!" Law finished, clearly unnerved by seeing him.

Crocodile laughed at this as he hit his metallic hook against the submarine again. "Indeed, and you are two of the Eleven Supernova, Trafalgar Law and Jewelry Bonney; it's nice to meet two well-known pirates such as yourself."

"What are you doing here?" Law demanded.

Crocodile stopped leaning on the submarine and walked a little closer. "Oh, it's a long story. You see, I'm sure both of you know about the Whitebeard War. Well after that, me and my companion Daz Bones got separated from a nasty marine attack, sending us both in separate directions. It was days before I landed on an island, and when I did, I immediately began to start trying to find my poor lost companion."

Both Law and Bonney stood still and listened intently.

"Eventually, my trip took me to Muriacht Island, where I discovered that he had been attacked and captured by a fellow who I later found out was named Kenji and taken away. Naturally, I went to investigate this strange event, and found out it was happening all over the Grand Line, including to several of you Supernovas."

"But why are you _here_?" Law persisted.

Crocodile walked a little closer with a grin on his face. "I'm here because we can both help each other out. As it turns out, the next part of my investigation takes place in the New World, and…lacking a ship, I thought I'd try and hitch a ride. As it so turned out, yours is clearly the best, Law, as well as your power."

"And what makes you think we'll let you join us?" Bonney demanded.

Crocodile's grin grew even further. "Why, just the fact that I have information on the same people who have been stealing your comrades as well. You see, we both have the same goal here, and each of us has something the other needs, so why not just team up and go into the New World together?"

"And what makes us think that you won't betray us?" asked Law. "You seem to have a reputation for that."

Crocodile smiled. "Why, the fact that I'll be surrounded by your men 24/7, and I'd be foolish to attack two people with powers such as yourself in a small submarine surrounded on all sides by enemies."

Both Bonney and Law seemed to agree with this, and after a bit of talking together, Law said, "Alright, we'll let you go with us, but only if you tell us everything you know and promise not to try and stop us in any way."

"Of course…"

Letting out a deep breath, Law walked towards his submarine _Heartless_ and said, "Let's go everyone, time is wasting."

Bonney, Bepo, Jean Bart, and Crocodile followed him and boarded his submarine. While in there, Bepo put his paw on Law's shoulder saying, "I have a feeling it'll all work out in the end Captain."

Law couldn't help but smile at this and said, "I certainly hope so Bepo, I certainly hope so…"

* * *

As more players join the game...

**Updating on Monday!**

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	27. Reunion and Departure

The aftermath of Victor's attack. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**27: Reunion and Departure**

Feverish.

That's how the dream would best be described. It started with Luffy standing on the _Thousand Sunny_ with his crew. They were setting sail for the New World and spirits were high. Zoro and Sanji were arguing (as usual) while Usopp and Chopper were off doing something unknown. Robin was sitting down reading a book, while Nami was staring at her log pose and sipping a drink Sanji had made for her. Brook was watching Franky repair a part of the ship (while cracking some skeleton jokes, much to Franky's chagrin).

Luffy looked at this as a picture of the norm, a picture of calm, a picture of peace. Then suddenly, the world turned red as the seas became violent. Panic erupted as Brook and Franky were immediately flung off the ship into a massive maelstrom. Robin flew out of her chair and injured her head, and while Chopper tried to help her out, a giant wave took both of them. Zoro, Sanji, Nami, and Usopp tried their best to get their crewmates back, but lightning struck the ship as a massive wooden spike went through Zoro's chest, glazing his eyes over instantly.

Usopp was the next to go as an explosion appeared at the bottom of the ship and took him instantly, while Sanji was struck in the head from a piece of shrapnel. Nami ran towards Luffy frantically, calling for help, but before he could reach her, the ground beneath her gave way and she disappeared into the crushing dark.

All while Luffy stood there motionless.

Pain immediately struck the captain, as he was suddenly able to move, trying to go towards his fallen crewmates, but before he could get far, Portgaz D. Ace appeared in front of him, his face bloodied with a gaping bloody hole appeared where his chest had once been.

_("Luffy, why did you come? I told you not to come; it was thanks to you that I had to sacrifice my life…to save you…")_

_"I didn't mean to!" _Luffy found himself yelling, but Ace's bloody grin persisted.

_("Should have left it to Whitebeard…you killed me Luffy…")_

Before Luffy could protest, Ace melted away into what looked like fiery-red magma, and from his ashes rose Victor, a sneer present on his face.

_("Oh, but you were a bit too late weren't you? No matter, you just need to go to Marineford with all of your break-out buddies to try and stop his execution. And…I think we all know how that turned out don't we?")_

Luffy attempted to punch him, but his fist went through him into a black ooze, trapping his hand. Victor kept his sneer and pulled Luffy closer, so close, in fact, that he could smell his breath. It smelt like death and decay.

Luffy tried his best to pull away, but found nothing would work. He eventually pulled his arm free, only to find it now separated from his own body.

_"AAAAAAHHHHH!"_

With that, Victor was on him, and in a quick hit to the chest, Luffy was on the floor. He stared at the blood-red sky breathing slowly. Then, a shadow appeared over him. It was the face of Victor, still grinning that grin.

_("I'm the man who is going to change the entire world…Victor D. Capere.")_

Luffy attempt to scream, but saw that no words could come out.

— — —

Monkey D. Luffy opened his eyes rapidly, sweat drenched his face, but he found he couldn't move easily. After a test, he found it was highly painful to do so, so he just lied back down on his bed and looked at his surroundings.

He was at Shakky's "Rip-Off Bar," that much was clear. He looked up and saw her old-fashioned fan spinning slowly as smoke flew towards it. He looked to his side to see Silvers Rayleigh (with his back turned to Luffy) conversing with Shakky, the owner of the bar. Her cigarette smoke drifted lazily as she nodded grim-faced at what Rayleigh was apparently saying.

It took Shakky around a minute to notice Luffy was awake, and surprise didn't show as much as he expected. Rather, a smile crept onto her face, as she seemed to whisper something to Rayleigh, who turned around and smiled at Luffy, yelling something he couldn't understand.

Rayleigh was quickly up and went over to Luffy's bed, but not before turning to Shakky and motioning her, and with a nod, she went out the door. He drew close enough now that Luffy could hear him clearly.

"Good to see you awake with that chipper expression on your face!"

Luffy knew it was a lie as he could tell that bandages heavily covered his face, the biggest one going over and covering his left eye. Rayleigh looked for a reaction, but when he saw none, he tried again.

"Hey, come on there, cheer up!" He lightly hit Luffy's right shoulder. "Sure you got your ass handed to you, but look at the bright side; at least you're still alive!" He beamed broadly.

Luffy tried to speak but saw that his mouth was as dry as cotton. With a struggle, he lifted his arm and pointed to his mouth, making only a guttural sound. It took Rayleigh a second to understand, but after a second his face lit up.

"Oh, you want some water. I gotcha!"

With that, he was up and walking over to Shakky's counter. Within a second, he had a mug of cool water in his hand, and brought it back over. "Here we go, upsy-daisy!" He lifted Luffy's head and put the cup to his lips, making him drink.

Luffy swallowed huge gulps and after a second of this, began to cough vigorously. Rayleigh put the cup away and slapped him several times on the back. "Easy now, can't drink so much at once!"

After several rounds of coughing, Luffy settled down and said, "Thanks…"

Rayleigh smiled at this. "Don't mention it."

"How long have I been out?"

"Oh, only for about half a day," he replied, looking up in the air. "Let's see, you were attacked in the middle of the night yesterday, and now you're up at around two or so, so…" He started to count his fingers.

After several seconds, he looked back down at Luffy and said, "Ah, who really cares? It's around half a day."

After a few seconds, Luffy said solemnly, "I was totally defeated…"

Rayleigh reflected on this for a few seconds before starting, "Hey, don't wor—"

_"LUFFY!"_

Both men immediately looked over and saw the door was kicked open, and in ran in Boa Hancock, clearly elated to see that he was conscious. Without Luffy being able to say anything, she was at the side of his bed kneeling down so her head was at his level; she was clearly blushing.

"I'm so glad to see that you're awake. I was _so _worried about you for the past few hours, I thought you might die!"

"Hey, Hancock, how's it going?" Luffy asked, oblivious to the last statement she just said.

Boa seemed to react strangely to this, as she muttered something like "he called me Hancock…" and turned away from him, muttering more incoherent words.

"As I was saying…" Rayleigh said with a sigh, "there are some people here that might just cheer you—"

"Luffy!" he heard five consecutive voices saying.

He looked back at the door to see Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Usopp, and Ivankov running through the door towards him.

"Guys!" Luffy yelled, trying to jump out of his bed, but the pain stopped him from doing so.

Rayleigh resigned his position and let his six friends take over. Many words were spoken in greeting, but when Luffy asked how they all got here, each explained their part of the story.

Usopp explained about him and Heracles, while Zoro explained running into Nami, and Sanji explained about running into both of them and getting Hancock from Amazon Lily (although he left the explosion part of that story out). They also left out the Benjamin part (not wanting to worry Luffy unnecessarily) and how they tried to chase him, but he must have taken an eternal pose on another route, since they found no trace of him in their travels.

They then explained that they all traveled back together (save for Usopp) and when they finally did land on Sabaody Archipelago, they all ran into Usopp and Heracles, who were going to the _Thousand Sunny _together.

"And that's when Heracles said his goodbye," Usopp remarked, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"As well as Perona," Zoro stated with the same tone.

Luffy looked clearly confused, so they had to explain.

"After we rescued Perona from Amazon Lily," Zoro said, "she didn't act hostile to us, but she looked…uncomfortable. She continually stated that as soon as we landed on Sabaody she would leave us for her 'dream island'."

"And Heracles said that he promised to bring me here, and that his mission was complete," Usopp interjected. "I begged him to stay with us, but he said that his home was on Boin Archipelago, and he could never leave it for good."

"Ironically," Sanji said, cutting Usopp off, "Perona complained about wanting to go to a gloomy island where she could have servants and meet other gloomy people. Luckily, Heracles was in earshot of this and said he knew just the island back on route to his own."

Luffy nodded, not remembering who Perona is, or knowing who Heracles was, but he was still interested in the story.

"So, Heracles and Perona thanked us," Usopp continued, "and went off on Heracles ship _Stag_ so they could both go to the islands that make them happy."

"Not that I like to interrupt or anything," Rayleigh said, coming back into the scene, "but I feel that we have some serious business to discuss, mainly regarding what happened to him." He threw off the blanked covering Luffy to reveal a heavily bandaged chest.

Everyone seemed to gasp at the damage Luffy seemed to have sustain (while the bandaged head seemed somewhat normal to them), and they got Rayleigh's point.

Sanji took out a cigarette, lit it, and said, "Alright…talk."

— — —

The fan still moved at its turtle pace as Rayleigh explained everything he knew.

"Seeing as how Sabaody is a lead-in to the New World, information always floods through in the form of pirates or reporters or what have you," Rayleigh explained. "And recently, news has been coming in through various sources about strange…capturing of Devil Fruit Users. On this island alone, several—including a few Supernovas—have been attacked and mysteriously taken away."

Everyone listened intently to what he had to say.

"So naturally I was curious," he continued, "and through some research myself, I discovered this shady crew. All the main players are well known and have extensive records: Vendrix the Disillusioned, Aliyyah the Typhoon, Daron the Maruader, Benjamin McAllister, William Helmont, Kenji, Kaede…and soon I learned that the head of this group is named Victor D. Capere."

That name immediately sprang into the front of Luffy's mind, as if it was buried deep into his subconscious until Rayleigh said it. "He's the guy who attacked me!"

Everyone turned to Luffy and silence reigned for a second. "Indeed," Rayleigh said, leaning back in his chair as he broke the silence. "I was afraid that he was going to target you, what with your large bounty."

"It's hard to believe that someone can beat Luffy," Nami said.

Sanji started another cigarette.

"Well believe it," Rayleigh responded. "This guy has the power of what may be the best devil fruit in the world. It has the power to steal and use any devil fruits he wants, and he's been using his crew to collect them for him. Furthermore, I've come across some strange…plans he might be having."

"What do you mean?"

"From what I could gather from Victor, he seems to have a deep loathing for pirates, and with the power of him and his crew, he may very well be trying to end the pirate world altogether."

"What?" Luffy said in shock. "How would he do that?"

Rayleigh shook his head. "I couldn't tell you, but I do know that he's trouble Luffy, _big _trouble. I probably can't stop you from going after him alone, but I'm just here to let you know what you're up against."

Zoro leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "So what's the call, Captain?"

Everyone stared at Luffy for a few seconds as he remembered his dream only a few minutes ago. "I've decided," he said, "that we're going into the New World to find Victor and stop him."

Rayleigh didn't see this as much of a surprise, and neither did his crew, as they all seemed to cheer for this idea.

In the back, Shakky lit another one of her cigarettes and smirked. "I hope you know what you're doing, Straw Hat…"

— — —

It was the early afternoon of the next day, and despite warnings from everyone that it was too soon, Luffy was up on his feet and walking to the _Thousand Sunny _with Nami, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Hachi, Camie the mermaid and her starfish friend Pappug, and Boa Hancock in his wake.

They spent the rest of the night having Luffy recover, but while he was awake, they debate the issue furiously as to leaving so soon. Nami and Usopp were for waiting for the rest of the crew to get here before they leave, but Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro were against the idea.

_"The longer we wait, the longer this Victor will be out in the New World, causing havoc," Zoro had argued._

_"But what about Robin? About Chopper? About Brook and Franky?" Nami asked._

_Sanji had sighed as he said, "It's not like we're leaving them blind. We're giving them explanations as to where we are and where we're going. Besides, they're all adults; they can handle themselves."_

_"But…" Usopp started._

_"But nothing. The Captain says it, so that's how it's gonna be," Zoro said, finishing all discussion on it._

They had left Rayleigh with specific instructions to explain to them that they were all fine and just went to the New World ahead of them for necessary reasons. They even made Rayleigh promise he would have a ship coated and ready to go as soon as they all showed up, and even told him that if they came split up, that they all must wait until everyone is there; no one would be left behind.

Rayleigh agreed and said he had already coated the _Thousand Sunny _and that it was ready to go to Fishman Island. By this point, Hachi, Camie, and Pappug had shown up at the bar and they, as promised, said he would guide them through Fishman Island.

With that, they departed to the _Thousand Sunny_.

Ivankov elected to stay behind and make sure the message was loud and clear. _"I have to vait for some friends anyvay," he explained,_ _"and I have a feeling that they are coming vith your friends."_

The crew understood; they made it to the ship.

They all stepped aboard, feeling a sort of nostalgia of finally returning. Although Luffy wasn't fully healed, determination burned in his eyes as he knew he would have to confront Victor again.

"Nami," he said, tipping his hat up so the sun shined on his face; it revealed a wide grin. "Take us away!"

"Yes Captain!" she said, looking at her Log Pose. She looked down and ordered to Zoro and Sanji, "You two! Go and steer the ship in the direction I say!"

"Yes, Namiiiiiii!" Sanji said with hearts for eyes.

"You don't tell me what to do," Zoro muttered before following Sanji.

Luffy's smile seemed contagious as soon everyone was doing it. "No matter what happens guys," he said to his crew, "I smell adventure ahead!"

* * *

After so long, and many separate adventures, they're together again.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	28. The Gathering

They finally gather. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**28: The Gathering**

There were more than just them; to think otherwise is a massive mistake.

Victor made his own personal organization, and although the organization had no name (he didn't much care for them), there were more than just nine. True, there were the main players: Tobias, Vendrix, Aliyyah, Benjamin, Daron, Kenji, Kaede, and William, but Victor had made certain groups, corps he called them, and the men under were organized as such.

The different subsections of Victors "crew" were split up into four corps. The first and biggest was known as the Corps of Kings, and it contained all of the players named above; in short, it was strongest corps Victor had to offer.

Underneath the Corps of Kings, three major Corps resided. The first (and most powerful) was known as the Zoan Corps, a corps made up entirely of Zoan-Fruit Users in the crew. Although its size was relatively small, the Devil Fruits they had made them deadly. They were led by Kaede with Kenji (Kaede's brother) as the Lieutenant; they basically relayed Victor's orders to them or their own personal orders when the time came for it.

The other two were on the same level, each with their own differing, but altogether equal power. One was known as the Blade Corps, where all of the swordsmen of the crew resided; they were led by Benjamin McAllister. The other was known as the Power Corps, where all of the skilled martial artists were put; it was led by Daron Arkan.

The majority of Victor's crew resided under the Power and Blade Corps.

Despite this seemingly equal "system" (if you will), Victor belonged to no corps, rather, he just ruled over all of them as the supreme leader. He gave direct orders to the Corps of Kings, and then the respective leaders of the Zoan, Blade, and Power Corps relayed it along. This was how the system worked, and this was how Victor was able to organize all of the devil fruit captures.

While this information normally wouldn't be relevant (as only the Corps of Kings really mattered), it is crucial to know how Victor's system worked, for on this day, he had gathered everyone under him, on an unnamed (due to no humans living there) New World stretch of land that was ninety percent beach.

Victor himself had been at the island—well, technically it wasn't counted as an island, but rather as a small speck of land before even the first island in the New World, and it had no magnetic pull (so there was no need to "log" it)—since last night. He had been discovered by Rayleigh and was forced to abandon his attack on Luffy. Victor didn't see this as a major threat, but rather, as a mere bump in the road. He knew he could have Straw Hat at any time, but currently, he had much bigger fish to fry.

He sat on the beach, staring at the endless ocean before him, waiting for his men to show themselves. He was starting to get restless as he picked up a nearby rock and threw it into the water, watching it hit it with a dull splash. Sighing, he stretched and lied down on the soft sand.

He closed his eyes for a second to block out the sun, but when he sensed that the sun was being blocked out, he opened them to see the smiling face of Vendrix looming over him.

"Hi!"

Victor gave a startled cry and scrambled away, as Vendrix was a _bit _to close for his liking. He got up, dusted himself off, regained his composure, and spoke to him. "Hey Vendrix, you seem pretty cheerful today."

"Well the voices told me it was gonna be a good day…and so far it has been!" he beamed a smile, which unnerved Victor to a degree.

"I guess that's good…"

Vendrix took a few steps closer, kicking up sand in a happy manner as he did it. "So here I am, mindin' my own business on the _kickass_ party island of Pofran, enjoyin' myself, havin' a good time, when suddenly, I get this call to show up on this shithole of an island. So I go, only to find you here, starin' off like you're fucking comatose."

Victor showed no fear as he nodded. "Indeed."

Vendrix persisted in his little laugh. "Kikikikikiki! So tell me then Victor…why in God's name was I called here? Would you just like some private time with little ol' me?"

He walked closer to Victor now. So close, in fact, that he attempted to put his hand up to his cheek.

Victor knocked it away effortlessly. "Give it up Vendrix; you're not special. In case you were wondering, I called _everyone _here, but you happened to be the first to show up."

With that, Vendrix broke into bouts of raucous laughter. He laughed so hard and so long that tears almost came out of his eyes. "Relax man!" he said, pointing at Victor in a mocking way. "I was just messin' with you. You really needta lighten up!"

Victor scowled at this, but didn't lose his temper. He turned away and sat back down, staring back at the ocean. Vendrix plopped down right beside him and stared as well. After a few minutes, a ship appeared in the horizon. Victor strained his eyes and put his hand over them to keep the sun from blinding him.

"Why is that…I think it is…why it's good old Ben McAllister, comin' in with his little dinghy of a ship." He turned to Vendrix saying, "Whaddya think of—"

He stopped when he saw Vendrix was off in his own mind, not paying attention to anything in the outside world. Sighing, he got up and waited. Benjamin docked his ship nearby and came out, a look of complacency on his face.

Victor opened his arms in an attempt to embrace him, saying, "Benny! How nice of you to join us!"

Benjamin stopped him with his left hand, and held out his right. Victor knew what it meant as he shook his hand. "Right, right, sorry…Benjamin." He released his hand and clapped them together. "So…where are our little prizes, huh?" he asked, referring to Perona and Hancock.

Benjamin's face didn't change as he said, "I wanna talk to ya about that, partner."

He explained the entire ordeal about Amazon Lily, but at the end of it, Victor only shook his head and chuckled. "Don't worry about that old friend," he said, clasping his hand on his shoulder. "You did enough by erasing that entire marine fleet. Their devil fruit powers—while powerful and would have been nice to have—weren't crucial."

Benjamin's expression still didn't change, as he followed Victor to where Vendrix was still sitting, staring into nothing. They waited there and eventually Daron Arkan appeared. Victor scolded him for being so late, despite being the closest to the island.

"Sorry," he said, ruffling the back of his head. "I kinda overslept."

Shortly after, Aliyyah the Typhoon showed up, lugging Scratchmen Apoo and Marine Captain Shuu with her. Victor took them to Benjamin's ship for privacy and appeared shortly after, walking towards the waiting group. He jerked his thumb back at Benjamin's boat.

"Go lug their carcasses out and throw them into the sea."

Daron and Benjamin complied as Aliyyah stood there, smiling.

"Got their fruits, eh?"

"Tried to get some information out of Apoo about the Straw Hats," he said, remembering Aliyyah told him he was going with Brook until she caught him. "But he wouldn't talk, so I just took care of him. As for Shuu, well he didn't know shit anyway."

"I still don't get why we needed _them_," Aliyyah said coldly. "They were barely worth my time."

Victor smirked at this. "Say what you will, my dear Aliyyah, but their powers are strong, and…as it turns out, convenient. Worry not about such trivial things."

A good fifteen minutes rolled by before a galleon appeared in their view. "Looks like the cavalry's here," Victor said, knowing who they were.

The ship parked close by, and Kaede, Kenji, and William Helmont appeared. Behind them, a good seventy men followed. They were the makings of Victor's crew.

"Tough ride, eh?" Victor asked.

"You try riding with the Zoan, Blade, and Power Corps combined all crammed in one ship, and tell me how it feels," Kaede said, looking back at all of the men, standing around doing nothing.

Kaede was around five-eleven and looked to be in his early-twenties. He had a slim yet muscular build with a youthful attractive face. Yet, behind the face, lurked some kind of deep sorrow and hatred. He dressed plainly enough, wearing a brown vest over a white shirt, with a basic pair of black jeans and shoes. His hair was brown, parted at the middle, and pulled back and tied into a ponytail. Despite this, some of his hair fell towards his face.

"Ah, it wasn't so bad," Kenji said, trying to be optimistic.

Being the younger brother to Kaede, Kenji shared several of his features, mostly when it came to faces. He was five-nine and looked to be in his late teens, with a face similar to Kaede's, only younger. He wore basic blue jeans, a pair of sandals, and a white long-sleeve t-shirt, with the sleeves going way to long, easily covering his hands. He had ruffled brown hair that stopped right at his eyebrows.

Victor led them to the main area, where the men spread out and socialized, while the members of the Corps of Kings stood together.

"So why exactly are we here?" William asked. "After we delivered our targets to you for their devil fruits, you said we could leave and do what we want for a while, and now you just asked us to come back while bringing all the men under our control with us to this island without even telling us how." He looked to Kaede and Kenji. "These two fellas picked me up on their way back and I made it back with them, but I still don't like being kept in the dark, so why don't ya tell us Victor."

Victor sat down cross-legged and replied, "Of course Will. To put it simply, we're all gathered here because you've all done your purpose separately. The only reason I separated the crew in the first place was to collect devil fruit users, and that part of the plan is finished now."

"So what part is staring then?" Kaede asked.

Victor offered a small grin. "The most crucial part. In order for us to pull it off, I needed everyone back together, and I don't plan on splittin' us up again anytime soon."

"So what are we gonna do?"

Victor held up a hand and replied, "I'll let you know when Tobias shows up. Then everything will become clear. Until then, why don't you go mingle with the groups. They work better when they see their leaders are kind and sociable."

Sure enough, the group broke off. As soon as Victor saw that they were gone, he pulled out his miniature den-den mushi and talk to it.

"Tobias, you there?"

Static, then an answer. "Yeah, I already told you Victor, I'm on my way."

"No, it's not that," he replied. After a few seconds, he continued, "I want you to do something for me…"

When Victor was done, he sat back down next to Vendrix, who hadn't moved from his spot, stared out at the ocean, and said, "That's a pretty nice view, ain't it Vendrix?"

But Vendrix still sat there, watching over nothing.

— — —

It was more than an hour before Tobias arrived, riding on San Juan Wolf with his captive and new crew members. While all of the men marveled at the massive ship on Wolf's back, Victor ordered them all aboard and soon enough, the deck was filled with all of his men, and all of them looked up and saw what Victor intended for them to see.

On the highest possible level of the ship, everyone saw Blackbeard, his arms each held with a pair of seastone cuffs and brought upward, binding him there, and forcing him to stand for all to see.

Despite his predicament, Blackbeard was still alive with energy, desperately trying to break free and yelling obscenities and curses. The chatter was small and quiet, but ceased completely when Victor appeared on the same level as Blackbeard, surprising everyone. He stared out at the crowd and gave them a large smile.

"It's nice to see everyone gathered here today. Almost like a reunion, isn't it?"

It was greeted with a small laugh from a few people.

Victor ignored that and continued. He pointed to Blackbeard, saying, "No doubt every one of you has heard of the legendary Blackbeard, the new 'scourge' of the high seas with a 360,000,000 berry bounty. Well look at him now ladies and gentlemen, the 'scourge' is here, tied up and defeated."

"Only because you bastards snuck up on me!" Blackbeard roared, cutting Victor off.

Victor took this challenge and said, "Indeed. In fact, I think we should thank Mr. Tobias—but you all know him better as Tobias the Dreamer—for his great victory against Mr. Blackbeard, who, for all intents and purposes, fought completely fairly."

"What bullshit!" he yelled, but Victor put his hand up, silencing him.

"So," he continued, "in order to…_motivate_ all of you for the next stage of our plan, I thought I'd give you all a little entertainment, by showing you that only victory is ahead if you stay with me. Watch, as I shall make the World Government's newest headache disappear for all time."

Strangely enough, cheering came from the crowd, as Victor turned around. "Any final words, Mr. Teach?"

_"DON'T GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS!"_ he yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear. _"AND IF YOU CARE FOR DREAMS AT ALL, DON'T FOLLOW THIS MAN, FOR HE WILL ONLY DESTROY THEM IN THE END!"_

After a few seconds, he added, "_ONE PIECE IS REAL! ALL IT TAKES IS FOR SOMEONE WITH AMBITION TO FIND IT!"_

Victor moved closer to Blackbeard and said with a hushed whisper. "I know One Piece is real, Teach! And what's more is that you're right. I do plan on crushing dreams…I plan on crushing the dreams of every pirate out there! And I'm gonna start with you!"

Blackbeard smiled at this and spat in Victor's face.

He recoiled slightly, backed away, wiped off his face, and then he turned back around to his men and yelled, _"DOWN WITH THE AGE OF PIRATES!"_

This was met with a roaring applause from the men, but it slowly went down as Victor turned back to the still-smiling Blackbeard and reached both hands towards his chest. Tension was thick as both of his hands eventually entered Blackbeard's chest.

He stared down at this in horror, and involuntarily gave out a cry of horror. _"AAAAGGGHHHHHHH!"_

The tension reached its climax when Victor's eyes shot open and he yanked both hands out of Blackbeard's chest, revealing a devil fruit in each hand. He turned away from the darkening Blackbeard, and faced the crowd, raising them triumphantly.

This was met with thunderous applause from the audience, as Victor took the Dark-Dark Fruit and took a bite out of it, finishing it in three bites. With that, he moved on to Blackbeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, which he also ate with ease. When he was done, he raised his hands up, and got applause one final time.

Blackbeard's original pirate crew—Shiryu, Pizarro, Catarina, and Basco—was shocked to say the least, but felt no real sorrow. Before they knew it, Tobias was right in front of all of them, staring at them with his stony eyes.

"You're all now officially under the Corps of Kings, congratulations," he said with his usual unenthusiastic voice.

They all nodded, and Tobias began to walk away. He stopped for a second, turned around, and added, "And welcome to the crew…"

As soon as Victor was done with the fruits, he turned back towards Blackbeard and said to him, "I don't think fruits ever tasted so good, dontcha think?"

But Blackbeard didn't respond. Blackbeard was dead, a faint smile still on his face, and dead with him were all of his dreams and ambitions to become the Pirate King.

Victor then suddenly disappeared and reappeared on a surprised Wolf's head. Victor smirked at him and said, "Mr. Wolf, if we could get going now, that would be the best."

"Uh, sure…" he said after a few seconds. "Where to?"

After a few seconds, Victor's smirk didn't disappear as he said, "The Vespian Isles."

With that, San Juan Wolf paddled on, taking everyone from the Corps of Kings to the Blade Corps with him.

* * *

What is the significance of the Vespian Isles?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	29. Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Not too far behind, they land on Sabaody. Enjoy!

**As a side-note, it's Summer Vacation, and I'm quite happy! What say we celebrate this joyous occasion with some reviews, eh?**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**29: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back**

"Get the hell outta you freak of nature!"

Splint's face appeared with comic anger as he kicked the musician out of his own room. The musician reeled at this and shot back, "Why would you call me such a name? Is there something on my face?"

It was silent for a few seconds, before the musician finished, "Oh wait, I have no—AGH!"

He was cut off as Splint threw a paperweight from his room at the musician's head. Letting out a grunt of pain, Brook fell on his back and held his skull. Splint closed the door with a modicum of anger left in his actions.

"Owowowow!" he said, rolling around. "I think he may have scarred my skin…"

"Give it up Brook," Franky interjected with a sigh—Taroimo sitting next to him with his tail wagging—hammering at the floor by Brook. "No one finds your jokes funny." Taroimo barked in seeming agreement with this statement.

Brook hopped up and walked over to Franky. Completely forgetting what happened, he leaned over Franky's shoulder and asked, "What are you doin'?"

Franky took a plank of wood sitting by him and put it into the ground, letting the hammer take care of the rest. "I already told you," he said, not looking at Brook, "these guys asked me to fix their floor that…somehow disappeared without surrounding damage."

"Oh yes, I suppose I forgot. Yohohohohoho!"

Franky was tempted to throw his hammer at the annoying Brook, but got control of his temper and asked kindly, "Look, Brook, I know you don't have much to do, but do you think you could—"

"Excuse me miss, but may I see your panties?" he asked a female crewmate, several feet away from Franky.

This time, he did throw the hammer at Brook; he reeled in pain yet again.

A voice from a little bit off called to Franky. "You should control your temper better Franky."

"Ah, with him, it's hard to do that Robin," he replied, going back to his work yet again.

Nico Robin put her book down and looked up at the sky. "I suppose you're right," she said. She went back to reading.

Brook and Franky hadn't been with Robin and Chopper for long (the fact that Robin and Chopper had an eternal pose while Brook and Franky didn't helped them catch up to the two), but it was long enough for Brook to annoy everyone (mostly Splint) on the ship…

— — —

_Splint, Inazuma, Chopper, and Robin had just about finished all of the damage control caused by the massive Captain Buzzsaw and his crew. There were no fatalities and almost no injuries; the few that were injured got theirs when Buzzsaw was taking them hostage and his crew was being less than courteous._

_The biggest problem they had, however, was the massive hole on the deck Splint and Inazuma while making their sneak attack. _

_"I suppose I used my Blank-Blank Powers a bit too much on that one," said Splint, claiming that it was his fault. "But you gotta admit it was a cool entrance."_

_Everyone seemed to agree with that statement, but the problem still remained. Some of the less-skilled revolutionaries went to work on it, but progress was slow to say the least; everyone was just going to have to walk around it for the time being._

_A few hours after the attack, the ship was going smoothly and was correctly on course. _

_The sun was setting now, and Splint stood on the nearly deck, staring at the sea without much thought, his cigarette hanging loosely in his mouth. After seconds of silence, he said, "Pretty nice…don't you think, Nico Robin?"_

_He looked to the railing on the ship and saw an ear laying there. "Why don't you stop with your eavesdropping and come on out. I'm sure we have a lot to talk about."_

_With that, the ear disappeared and Robin stepped out of the shadows. "How did you know?" she simply asked._

_Splint tipped his bucket hat slightly lower and replied with a grin, "Never underestimate an experienced revolutionary."_

_"I see," she closed her eyes, nodded, and walked forward._

_Splint turned his back to the view and leaned on the railing, his cigarette about half done. "So tell me," he started, "why would you wish to spy on poor old me?"_

_"I did it to learn more about your intentions, but I guess it wasn't good enough," she said, deciding not to lie._

_Splint tilted his head back and blew smoke out of his mouth. "Such a mistrusting person," he said with a smirk. "Is it so hard to believe that our intentions are pure?"_

_"Quite frankly, it is," she replied. "I was talking to Chopper, and he even told me Inazuma said that Dragon had enough faith in us to get back to Luffy on our own, so why is it that he ordered you to come and pick us up?"_

_"We didn't pick all of you up," Splint corrected. "In fact, you two are the only ones we were ordered to look for. I guess it was because you were brought back to the four Blues and it would take forever for you to make it to Sabaody on your own."_

_Robin didn't react to this. "Even so," she replied, "why would he even order you to find us at all if he believed in us? What's his hurry?"_

_Splint smiled mysteriously at Robin. "Who knows?"_

_"This is why I was trying to eavesdrop," she replied with a sigh._

_Splint finished his cigarette, put it out on the rail, and almost immediately lit another one. "I can tell you with absolute certainty," he said, "that our direct orders right now are to take you to Sabaody Archipelago unharmed."_

_Robin knew she wouldn't get anything out of Splint on this subject, so she changed it. "Just how much does Dragon know?"_

_"How do you mean?"_

_"I mean," she faltered. "You knew about Tequila Wolf, and that the World Government has been building bridges there for 700 years, the beginning of the Void Century. So how much of history does Dragon actually know?"_

_"How do you know I just knew about it and the Boss didn't?" he responded coolly._

_Robin gave a small chuckle at this. "No offense, but you don't seem like the kind of man to know your complex history, especially on the subject of the Void Century."_

_Splint feigned hurt and said, "I guess that's true enough. Don't worry though Ms. Robin; the Boss knows enough to know what's going on…and what's going to happen."_

_Robin remained silent, taking in what Splint just said._

_"Anyways," Splint said, stretching his arms, "we're not that far off. I'd say we'll arrive at Sabaody at noon tomorrow."_

_"Sir! Ship spotted on the Northeast!" a man in the crows-nest yelled down._

_Splint and Robin immediately looked around and saw a galleon going towards them. Splint took out binoculars and looked at the flag. With somewhat of a grimace, he said:_

_"I'd recognize that flag anywhere. It's the On Air Pirates!"_

_"You mean one of the Eleven Supernovas?" Robin questioned._

_Splint put away the binoculars. "I'm afraid so." He looked at a man patrolling the ship and ordered, "Go and get below deck and tell them to get armed! Looks like we're gonna have some trouble."_

_Before the man could answer, a strange noise began to emanate from the On Air Pirate's ships. They all looked and soon enough, they recognized it as a steady, and then, they realized music was coming from it._

_Splint took out his binoculars again and saw that the crew was rowing the ship below deck to make it go faster. "It seems like someone's playing music to keep the crew rowing," he said, his cigarette falling out of his mouth. _

_Something clicked within Robin at that second as she asked, "Can you see who's making the music?"_

_Splint nodded and looked closer. "It appears that there's someone on deck playing a variety of instruments." After a few seconds, "I know this is gonna sound crazy…but the one playing seems to be a skeleton with an afro."_

_That was it! It could be no one other than Brook! _

_"Don't worry," Robin said, turning towards the man supposed to carry out the orders. "They're friends; there's no need for violence. Although if you could go get Chopper…"_

_"And Inazuma," Splint added hastily._

_The man nodded and trotted off._

_Not before long, Brook's ship noticed Robin's, and they both came up along side each other. Robin made a bridge between the ships out of arms and walked across. Not before long, everyone on Splint's ship could hear laughter and what sounded like a skeleton joke. A few seconds later, Robin, Brook, and Franky (with a barking Taroimo), came back to Splint's ship. _

_Introductions were made as Brook shook hands with Inazuma, and then Splint, who seemed to mumble something about Brook being the freakiest thing he'd ever seen. They talked for a bit, and obviously decided to go on together. _

_"By the way, did you happen to see a female on a small ship come this way?" Brook asked, thinking immediately of Aliyyah._

_Everyone shook their heads. "Sorry, if you met up with her before, she must have gone a different route than the one we're taking; we're just following the eternal pose."_

_"I see…" he replied, but almost immediately went back to good spirits._

_Unwilling to abandon the On Air Pirates, they created an alliance and Inazuma went over to their ship to captain (and navigate) it, while Brook and Franky (and Taroimo) stayed with Chopper, Robin, and Splint._

_With that, the sun set almost completely, but the two ships went on, determined to get to their destination as soon as possible._

— — —

Splint's prediction turned out to be true.

Both crew spent the night speeding along towards Sabaody Archipelago, and they spent the morning doing various activities (with Franky being recruited to fix the hole in the floor).

Around noon, however, an island came into view, and the man in the crows-nest happily cried that it was Sabaody Archipelago. Cheers could be heard from both ships as they happily sped towards their destination; they were there within a half hour.

They immediately docked both ships and everyone happily ran off, glad to be on solid ground again. Robin, Brook, Franky (with Taroimo of course), Chopper, Splint, and Inazuma went over to where they remembered the _Thousand Sunny_ had been before they got separated; Splint and Inazuma insisted on going since the mission won't be successful until they confirmed that they were back in the Straw Hat Crew.

When they reached the docking bay, a mixture of confusion and sadness struck their face when they saw that where the _Thousand Sunny_ once was, there was now another ship completely foreign to them.

"They left without us…?" Chopper asked, looking like he was about to cry.

"Let's go check with Silvers Rayleigh," Robin suggested.

Everyone agreed as they went over to Shakky's bar.

— — —

Shakky's "Rip-Off Bar" looked to be closed, but that didn't stop the motley crew from jimmying the lock (which Splint insisted he could erase the entire door, despite their protests) and getting in. There they saw Shakky attending the bar with Rayleigh sitting there, his back turned to the group.

"Well, well, well," Shakky said, noticing them immediately. "Look who finally showed up Silvers."

Rayleigh turned around to see them, and a smile immediately appeared on his face. "Hey!" he said with a booming voice. "We were wondering when you were gonna show up!"

"What do you mean?" Brook asked, confused at the way Rayleigh said that last sentence.

"And where's our ship?" Franky demanded. "Don't tell me you messed it up while you were coating it!"

"No, don't worry," Rayleigh said, putting his hands up innocently. "Come sit down and we'll discuss it all."

It took nearly thirty minutes for the story to be told…

"So you're saying that Luffy left without us because he had no choice?" Chopper asked.

Rayleigh nodded.

"They left yesterday afternoon, yes," Rayleigh said.

"I guess that makes sense," Robin said. "It seems like this Victor guy is a real threat."

"Could he be working with the woman that stole Apoo?" Brook asked.

Rayleigh nodded again. "Probably. He's been using his crew to collect Devil Fruit Users for a while now. I wouldn't be surprised if he stole Apoo for his powers. And I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but if Apoo was stolen a few days ago, it's most likely that he's dead now."

Brook slumped back down, knowing he would have to break the news to the On Air Pirates soon.

Rayleigh suddenly perked up. "Fortunately, Luffy left us with specific instructions before he left. He even made me coat up a ship just so you can go as soon as possible."

Everyone listened silently.

"Oh and before I forget…" Rayleigh said, turning towards Splint and Inazuma, "there was one more person who's wai—"

The door suddenly burst open and in walked Ivankov. "I'm back Candy Boys and Girls, and I've got vhat you nee—"

"Oh…" Splint said, putting his hand to his forehead. "Great…"

"Inazuma!" Ivankov said, sprinting over to the table to see an equally-elated Inazuma. He turned to see Splint and said, "Oh…long time no see Splint-Boy."

"You people know each other?" Robin asked.

"Unfortunately…" Splint said, putting his cigarette out. "The Boss for _some reason _decided to let a guy like Ivankov into our cause."

"Vhy you insignificant little…" Ivankov started. "You know, and Dragon knows that I'm much more valuable than you!"

Splint seemed to take this as a challenge as he stood up. "You wanna test that theory?" he asked.

"Let's just calm down!" Rayleigh said, standing between them. "We can't be having in-fighting; we need cooperation."

"How about some soothing music?" Brook suggested half-heartedly in an attempt to calm things down. "Yohoho…" he stopped when he saw it wasn't working.

Then Splint acted like he was hit by a ton of bricks. "Oh, that reminds me." He took off his bucket hat and produced a note from it and put it back on. "The Boss wanted me to give this to you, and you only."

Rayleigh took the note and opened it up, reading intently.

"Vhat vas so important that Dragon couldn't give me?" Ivankov asked, slightly offended.

"None of your business Drag Queen," Splint replied with indifference.

Ivankov reacted with anger as he said, "Say that to me again and I'll turn you into a woman!"

Splint turned back to Ivankov and replied, "I'd like to see you try!"

That seemed to spark a fight as both of them struck up fighting positions and appeared about to attack.

"Newkama Kenpo…"

"Revolutionary Style…"

"Is this true?" Rayleigh said, looking up at Splint with a strange look on his face.

They both stopped as Splint looked back and nodded. "If it's what the Boss says, then it's probably true, although I'm sure that's not much of a comfort."

"What's on the note?" Franky asked.

"Nothing," Rayleigh hastily responded. "Now come on, I'll show you all to the ship I coated."

With that, all of them left the bar.

— — —

Their ship was in the docking bay close to where they originally docked their ship. There, the On Air Pirates waited eagerly on their ship for Brook to bring back news. He knew what he had to do, as he dismissed himself and went to their ship. While he was gone, Rayleigh showed them a rather large galleon.

"It's fully stocked and completely prepared to ride," he said. "Luffy made me promise that."

Everyone went on the ship and inspected it.

"It's nice!" Franky commented, with Taroimo on his shoulder, barking and wagging his tail in excitement.

"Well we stole the nicest one on the island, so it better be," Rayleigh said with a laugh.

Brook then appeared on the ship with a solemn look on his face. "How'd it go?" Franky asked.

"I offered them to join the crew," he said, "but they refused, saying they were going to stay on Sabaody for a while and try and celebrate their Captain's life."

"I see," Robin said. "Well unfortunately, we don't have a few days. In fact, we need to leave as soon as possible."

"Of course," Rayleigh said. "Just let me tell you how this ship works…"

It took a few minutes for him to explain it to Inazuma, Splint, and Ivankov (as everyone else was worthless when it came to knowing how to run and navigate a ship), and when he was done, he waved them goodbye, wished them good luck, and stepped off.

"So you're really coming with us then?" Splint asked Ivankov unenthusiastically.

"Of course!" he responded. "I'm sticking vith you until the bitter end!"

"Oh, it'll be bitter all right…" he responded, walking away.

Soon enough, after getting the Revolutionaries and Newkama Crew on board (which made for a tight squeeze, despite the ships size), Inazuma sent the ship off towards Fishman Island, where they hoped to catch up with Luffy and the rest of the crew.

Silvers Rayleigh stood there, watching the ship go with a mix of indifference and determination. "Just what are you and Victor planning, Dragon?" he asked himself as the ship became a shadow in the distance.

Knowing he wouldn't get an answer, he turned around, and went back to Shakky's bar.

* * *

Still so much that is undone...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	30. Journey to Paradise

The long-awaited journey to Fishman Island. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**30: Journey to Paradise**

Sabaody Archipelago had always been a unique island. Even without its status as the final island on the first half of the Grand Line, or an island of immense success, or an island full of roughneck pirates looking to have a good time. No, Sabaody Archipelago was unique simply for its Yarukiman Mangrove trees.

Strong enough to have roots at the bottom of the ocean, these trees are unique in that no other island has them. Despite being massive and dividing up the difference sectors of Sabaody, they also exhuming special bubbles that are often used by merchants as a form of transportation, as each bubble is deceptively strong, being able to support a full-grown human.

The fact that isn't so well known about these bubbles is that they can only be sustained inside the environment of Sabaody Archipelago. In other words, if the bubbles were to leave the island, they would pop within a time-span of about a minute, expanding little by little until it exploded.

This only turned out to be a half-truth.

While it its true that the bubbles made from the resin on the mangroves cannot survive outside of the island, this is only true for land. In fact, due to its deep roots in the ocean floor, not many people take into account that the bubbles are sustained just fine and, in some cases, do better in the ocean than they would do on land.

This is the basic principle and most basic fact behind "ship coating."

Ship Coaters on the island have used this information for years to get ships onto Fishman Island, an island deep underwater right under the Red Line. Unfortunately, in order to pull off a coating correctly, the coater themselves need to be more than adept at their craft; they basically need to know what they're doing, or the ship gets crushed in the unforgiving blue that is the ocean.

Fortunately for the Straw Hat Pirates, Silvers Rayleigh was more than capable of pulling off such a feat, and in fact, was the best coater on the island (albeit by his own admission). It is for this reason that Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Hancock, Hachi, Camie, and Pappug sailed towards Fishman Island with almost no worries.

They had set out only a little while ago, and already the island of Sabaody Archipelago was just a small shadow behind them. That didn't worry them that much; what did worry them was the massive looming solid wall of land coming towards them.

Luffy felt that he couldn't contain his excitement. "So that's the Red Line?" he asked, sitting on the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_. "So this is what every pirate sees before they enter the New World."

Boa Hancock, who was sitting right by Luffy (as she usually followed him everywhere) nodded and said, "Can you believe that Fisher Tiger climbed up this entire wall to free the slaves of Mariejois?"

Luffy nodded but didn't answer, still staring at the massive continent coming up on them.

"Hey Nami!" Usopp nearly yelled, "I hope Rayleigh gave you proper instructions how to get us underwater, or else we're gonna crash right into the Red Line!"

"Don't worry," Nami said, giving him a thumbs up while sticking her tongue out. "He left me with very specific instructions as to how to get us underwater."

"You mean that piece of paper you haven't read yet?" Zoro asked, lifting weights within earshot of the conversation.

Nami immediately turned to his position and shot back, "There's no need to read it so soon! We're still a little ways off and besides, this makes it more exciting."

"Since when were you one for excitement?" asked Zoro with a grunt.

Before he could react, Sanji was already on his case. "Shut up Marimo! If Nami says she knows what she's doing, then she knows what she's doing!"

Zoro didn't seem phased by this as he said in a lackluster tone, "You're rather noisy there Love Cook."

Sanji was about to strike Zoro, but thought better of it and said, "Forget it. I'm too excited to fight right now. Seeing as how in a few hours we'll be on Fishman Island."

"Why's that so great?" Usopp felt compelled to ask, working on something on the deck.

Sanji looked almost perplexed at this question. "Why's it so _great_?" he repeated. "It's so great because we're going to Fishman Island, home of the merfolk, and that means mermaids…beautiful mermaids." His eyes became hearts.

Zoro nearly laughed at this, but got away with only a few chuckles under his breath. Sanji turned around and was about to fight, when he heard Camie down below say, "It's called Fishman Island because there are more fishmen than mermaids; they're scarcer than most people think."

This seemed to send Sanji into a bout of depression as he fell to his knees muttering something incomprehensible.

Then, Luffy was up and almost yelled, "Nami! We're coming up on the Red Line fast! Does this mean we're gonna be in the New World soon?"

Nami took notice to the ships pick up of speed as she realized the wind was helping them along now. "Right," she said. "When we're close enough, I'll activate the ship after it got coated, and we'll be on our way underwater."

She took out Rayleigh's note starting, "Now let's see what kind of instructions he gave us…"

She trailed off when she simply saw a note with the words "Pull Lever twice…have one minute or you die" on it and below that was a crudely-drawn picture of a hand with its thumb up and next to it said "Good Luck!"

Nami glanced at the note, then at the lever she saw Rayleigh install. Then back at the note, and then back at the lever. She nearly broke out in a rage when she saw how simplistic it was. Either it was as simple as pulling a lever, or Rayleigh was sending them to their death. Nami was betting on the latter of the two choices.

She quickly ran over to the lever and said to everyone, "Let's hope this works! If not, we're all dead!"

"What?" they all seemed to yell at once.

With that, Nami pulled on the lever, sending what sounded like a large amount of gears underneath start moving. With that, a pipe that was installed on the ship's deck began to shoot out a white smoke that was soon surrounding the ship.

"What's going on?" Zoro asked, standing up.

"I don't know!" Nami yelled back.

Before anything else could be said, a massive bubble began to surround the ship. The smoke then stopped coming from the pipe.

"How'd this happen?" Usopp asked in surprise at seeing a massive bubble around the _Thousand Sunny_.

Nami put her hand on her chin and said, "Hmm…if I was to guess, it would be that the smoke seems to be some kind of substance that was in the air at Sabaody that made the mangroves give off bubbles, making the resin on our ship act on it and create a bubble around our ship."

"You mean the type of bubbles that pop when they're not on the Sabaody?" Sanji asked with a grimace.

"Shit!" Nami said, realizing what he meant.

Her mind quickly remembered the _"have one minute or you die"_ on the note, and her mind quickly shot back to the _"pull lever twice" _portion of it. Thinking fast, she pulled the lever again, which seemed to stop the grinding gears on the ship.

Doing this, the ship seemed to stop altogether. Then, the ship started to sink into the ocean with the bubble still around it.

"Nami, what's going on?" Luffy asked, with a grin visible on his face.

"I dunno," she said quietly as the ship sank deep into the water.

"Well do something before the bubble pops and we all die!" a panicked Usopp yelled.

"Don't worry," Hachi said as everyone looked to him; he had been quiet most of the trip. "Since the mangroves roots are rooted in the ocean, the bubbles are just as strong in the water as they would be at Sabaody. The bubble will hold and keep us safe until we get to Fishman Island."

"You knew this all along didn't you?" Nami asked in a slightly-angered tone.

Camie, Hachi, and Pappug nodded as the starfish said, "It was so much more fun watching you guys struggle; thanks for the entertainment."

"But we would have let you know before we all crashed into the Red Line," Camie smiled.

Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, until Sanji yelled to Luffy, "That means not doing anything that could make this bubble pop from the inside!"

"Well actually, the bubble is quite unique in that—" Hachi started.

Luffy laughed and yelled, _"TO FISHMAN ISLAND!"_

"That means yelling too!" everyone said, kicking Luffy to the floor. "If you yell too loud you might pop the bubble!"

Boa Hancock took this as a threat and ran in front of Luffy. "Don't any of you touch him!" she said, looking down on them so much she was looking up.

"Whatever you wish!" a heart-eyed Sanji swooned.

"Anyways…" Hachi said, breaking up the commotion, "due to how this bubble works, if you stop the ship completely, the bubble will be able to take over and sink towards the ocean. However, once we're in the ocean, we can move forward, but since the island is 10,000 meters under the ocean, I suggest we let it fall a little bit more before we move again."

"Sure…" Nami said as the ship continued to fall.

As the ship went deeper, they watched all of the underwater creatures float by. They worried about them hitting the ship, but Hachi assured them the bubble was durable enough to take a few hits from the animals, and that it wasn't likely to happen anyway.

"I hope we see a mermaid soon…" Sanji said glumly.

"Remember," Zoro reminded, "_Fishman_Island, not Mermaid Island."

Sanji once again fell to his knees in depression.

— — —

Once the _Thousand Sunny_ was close enough to the ocean floor, they began to move again. To their surprise, nothing went wrong as the ship moved like normal.

"It's just like navigating on top of the ocean," as Nami put it, "only now we watch out for corals and fish," she added at the end.

Everyone simply watched in anticipation as nothing needed to be done to keep the ship moving forward; all it took was for someone to take the rudder and steer it. Wind and sails were not an issue underwater.

"So tell us about Fishman Island!" Luffy said excitedly to Hachi, Camie, and Pappug.

Hachi smiled and said, "Well, it's known as an underwater paradise, as it should be. There's what we call two districts. The Residential District, which is where all the fishmen and women live, and the Business District, where all of the pirates and tourists go to get supplies and such."

"So how exactly does the tourism work?" Zoro asked. "I'm guessing that normal humans can't survive under such conditions."

"Now there's the secret of why the island is so great," Pappug interjected. "You see, the business district is _also _surrounded by massive bubbles with air in it so that the visitors can go in. Since Fishmen can breathe on land and water, that's where all of their shops are."

"Then how are people supposed to exit and leave?" Usopp asked. "Wouldn't the bubble burst whenever someone left?"

"As I was _trying _to explain earlier," Hachi sighed, referring to when he was cut off by Luffy's yell, "the bubbles are unique in their own rights. People can simply 'walk' through them without anything happening to the bubble. They're also durable enough to withstand whatever natures given us for several years, so stop worrying about the bubbles durability."

Hachi seemed slightly annoyed at this point, and everyone seemed to sense this, backing off. It didn't matter much as Nami caught sight of the Red Line wall more clearly now, and she was able to see the hole in it that she assumed where Fishman Island was.

"Is that it?" she was forced to ask Hachi, who look and nodded.

Nami then began to steer the ship in that direction, and before anyone knew it, they were moving their way in. As soon as they were directly under the continent, everyone looked with wonder as Hachi and Camie smiled and said:

"Welcome to paradise, otherwise known as Fishman Island!"

Surprisingly, there was a large amount of light and space despite being under a continent, and what the Straw Hats saw was truly awe-inspiring.

The first thing they noticed was the massive bubbles both floating and on the ground, and inside these bubbles was a set floor with what looked to be busy areas full of people and stores and what-have-you. Several fishmen flew by, looking at the ship for a second, and then realizing it was a fairly common occurrence, so they looked away. There were several ships surrounded in bubbles just like theirs, and even more docked outside of the commerce bubbles so people could get in. Despite all of this to take in, the most noticeable of all was a massive underwater volcano sitting right on the sea-floor in the middle of all of the Business District. Not surprisingly, this was the first thing that came up in conversation.

"So why is this whole thing situated by a massive volcano?" Nami asked Hachi.

Hachi laughed and replied, "Don't worry about it. That volcanoes known as Arashi's Point and it's been dormant ever since fishmen could remember."

The ship moved towards one of the business bubbles with a dock jutting out, and they soon found an open place to stop. The ship stopped so close to the area that the bubble from the _Thousand Sunny_ touched the bubble from the district, and they both morphed together, creating a type of pseudo-pathway for the Straw Hats to enter and exit through.

"This island takes about ten hours to log," Hachi explained to Nami, "so we should try and stock up on supplies and get ready for the trip to the New World."

"Stocking up sounds fine," Nami replied to him, "as long as no one starts any trouble by wandering, everything should be alright."

She turned to look at the group, but she found that all of them were already gone.

* * *

The group split up on a new island. It'll all work out, right?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	31. Adventure on the Island Underneath

There's plenty of Fishman Island to explore. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**31: Adventure on the Island Underneath**

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp heard what Nami was saying, and although they didn't hear all of it, they got the gist of it; they were to stick together and leave as soon as possible; they weren't going to have this when there was so much of Fishman Island to look at.

As soon as she turned towards Hachi, Camie, and Pappug to talk to them that was their queue to bolt out in any direction they could before she noticed and subsequently stopped them; they were successful in this regard. Each went off in a different direction with a little money to spend (save for Zoro and Luffy), and they intended to make the most of their ten hours they were there for.

"Those bastards!" Nami said, holding up a fist. "They think they can just go whenever they want when we…"

She trailed off due to anger. "Look at it this way," Camie said, trying to calm her down, "at least this gives you some time off."

This consoled Nami a little, but she still had some anger in her. Hachi was going to say something, but thought better of it and kept his mouth shut.

"How about…" Pappug said to Nami, "I take you to see Kalyn the Mermaid Princess?"

"Hmm?" Nami said, turning towards the starfish. "You know the Mermaid Princess personally?"

"Well, I've designed some of her clothes," he said.

"Pappug's really good at that!" Camie exclaimed, cutting him off.

"And she and I became friends to some degree," he finished. "At least to the degree where I can go and visit her; I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you."

"Well I'm not so sure…" she started, "without the guys around…"

"She has a nice place where she works in the Business District, an office if you will," Pappug added. "I've been there and it's full of the nicest things I've ever seen."

"How nice?" she asked, turning towards Pappug, her eyes replaced with Berry signs.

"Uh…well…nice enough I guess," Pappug said, as if sensing her intent. "But she wouldn't be very pleased if some of her stuff went…missing."

"Oh don't worry," Nami said, her eyes turning back to normal. "I just like seeing nice things, that's all…"

After a few seconds, Pappug said, "Alright, I'll take you there then."

Nami followed Hachi, Camie, and Pappug, taking the back. She was just going to look, she decided, and if she saw something really nice, something might happen. After all, she was a pirate, and pirates do like to lie and steal…

— — —

Zoro and Luffy (with Boa following him like normal) went around to explore the busy commercial areas, Luffy looking around wide-eyed with excitement while Zoro casually walked close to him, letting his head sway from right to left lazily.

"You know we don't have any money to spend Luffy," Zoro said to the captain. "Unless you decided to borrow some money from that witch." He immediately thought of Nami and the trick she tried to pull at Roguetown all that time ago. "But that won't work out too well."

Luffy continued to look around with Boa at his side as he replied, "I'm not looking to buy anything. I'm looking to find someone I know."

"And who would that be?" Zoro inquired.

Meanwhile, while they were speaking, several men were looking at Hancock and yelling several suggestive things at her. They continued to get more as they kept on moving, and it soon got to the point where it was just inconvenient.

"They're offending my ears…" Hancock said to Luffy. "Can I turn them into stone?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Zoro said with a sigh. "Just ignore them; they won't do much."

As it turned out, however, a large group of men turned out to be so bold as they walked up to the group. The leader of the group, a lanky man with a black eye-patch over his left eye and a falchion tucked into his broad belt addressed Hancock directly.

"Hey babe! What's a beauty like you hanging out with these two weaklings?" He looked to Luffy and Zoro.

Hancock seemed unimpressed at this as she simply replied, "None of your business, now leave before you offend me further."

They started to walk away, but the man wouldn't take no for an answer. He went back to her and grabbed her roughly by the arm. "Hey! Don't turn away from me!" he said, but wasn't able to get any farther.

Boa Hancock immediately sprung into action as she was able to grab his arm, twist it around his back, and deal him a kick to his back, sending him flying forwards and falling on his face.

"She got Turl!" they heard someone from the group yell. "Get her!"

The men began to rush towards Hancock, but Luffy and Zoro went between both of them. "Remember, we don't wanna cause too much of a ruckus," Zoro grinned to Luffy. "So let's not hurt 'em too badly."

Luffy cracked his fists and replied, "Sounds good to me. Gum-Gum Gatling!"

A flurry of fists flew from Luffy and hit a good portion of the men, knocking them back a bit. Zoro took his three swords and swung them around. "Dragon Twister!" he yelled, creating a small twister sending several people flying up and hitting the floor with a dull thud.

The man with the eye-patch, apparently named Turl, was up now and signaled to people around them, apparently more men with them. They nodded as a much larger group descended on the three of them. Turl himself drew his falchion and went to enter the fray.

Hancock entered the battle now, using her acrobatics to knock several men out at once. She decided not to use her Love-Love powers as she didn't want to cause a "ruckus" that might anger Luffy. Several men fell upon her but she dispatched them quickly with a few kicks from her legs.

After a while, more men seemed to join the growing battle, most likely pirates who were eager for a brawl. Regardless, Luffy, Zoro, and Hancock grew tired of fighting so many people, and if they weren't careful, they might get injured.

"I don't want you to think I'm a coward," Zoro laughed to Luffy, "but I'm thinking we should get out of here before someone comes and arrests us."

"Gum-Gum Whip!"

Luffy swung his leg, knocking several men down to the floor. He fixed his straw hat and said, "You're probably right but…"

He looked and saw that they were surrounded on all sides by a large wall of men, "…that might be harder than we thought," he finished.

"We'll just have to break one part!" Zoro said, rushing towards a group of men.

Meanwhile, Turl seemed to be impatient as he waved his falchion yelling, "What are you all waiting for? Get them!"

Before anyone could do anything, they simply heard, "Arabesque Brick Fist!"

Everyone stopped for a second, and a few seconds later, a massive shockwave hit a large group of men, dropping them like a ton of bricks and freeing up a section to go through. Luffy, Zoro, and Hancock looked to see none other than Jimbei standing there with an ashamed look on his face. He shook his head as he said to the men:

"It's a real shame to see such a brawl going on in an island labeled paradise. If you all like your bones intact, I suggest you all flee before I really get angry."

The men saw he was serious, and they all lost their will to fight, running in the opposite direction of the four. Turl was still brave enough to make threats as he yelled while running, "The Captain'll get you for this! Just you wait!"

When they were gone, Luffy immediately ran over to the fishman. "Jimbei!" he yelled.

"Well if it isn't Luffy," Jimbei said, nodding at him. "And hello there Hancock," he said, looking at Boa. He turned to Zoro and said, "And hello Mr….?"

"This is Roronoa Zoro," Luffy explained. "He's a part of my crew."

Jimbei held his hand out and said, "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Zoro said, shaking his hand.

"So you and your crew finally made it to Fishman Island eh?" Jimbei asked. "I hope this means you're ready for the New World."

"Well…" Luffy started, "our whole crew isn't here. More like half of them."

Jimbei cocked his head quizzically. "Why is that?"

"It's hard to explain," Luffy said. "It might take a while."

"Then why don't you come with me and I'll show you around the island while you talk," Jimbei said, putting his hand on Luffy's shoulder. "You can explain the whole thing to me in detail and maybe later we'll get some food."

If there was any opposition, Zoro knew it was gone as soon as Jimbei mentioned food. Not surprisingly, Luffy happily obliged as he and Hancock followed the two friends, leaving a few unconscious bodies scattered across the floor.

— — —

Usopp himself found that this particular bubble didn't have what supplies he was looking for and needed; this was more of a commercial restaurant/tourist shop bubble, not a bubble where one could trade supplies.

After a bit of asking around, he found out that the supply shops were on another bubble, or as it was called, Bubble Four.

"Fishman Island's Business District is divided into several bubbles," a helpful fishman explained to him. "In fact, all of the bubbles floating around that you see are a part of the Business District, as all of the fishmen and mermaid's houses are underwater in the Residential District."

"I see…" Usopp said, putting his hand to his chin.

"There are seven massive bubbles on Fishman Island," he said, "promptly labeled Bubbles One through Seven. Right now, we're in Bubble One, which is mostly where all of the rich tourists come and where the Mermaid Princess conducts her political business. In short, it's the most popular one. The ones with supplies for people who are leaving are in Bubble Four, which is over there."

He pointed to a massive bubble somewhat far off in the distance.

"How do I get over there then?" asked Usopp.

The fishman lit up. "Luckily, we have inter-bubble transportation for everyone that can't breath underwater. There are several stations at the borders of each bubbles where a tram surrounded by bubbles to breath in takes the travelers to the Bubble its assigned to."

"That's pretty cool," Usopp said.

"The station for Bubble Four is in that direction I believe," the fishman said, pointing to his right. "They come around every fifteen minutes or so."

"Thanks a lot," Usopp replied in a happy tone. "You've been more than helpful."

"Don't mention it," he said, waving his hand as Usopp walked away.

_"I guess all fishmen aren't like Arlong's," _Usopp thought as he walked towards the station to Bubble Four.

He found it successfully and wait for five or so minutes with a few other people. Finally, he saw the tram pull up and park directly next to the bubble, connecting both of them and letting the people on the tram get off.

As Usopp was getting ready to get on, he noticed two particularly vicious looking folks talking to each other in hushed whispers.

"We got what we need, so let's not wait any longer or the Captain'll have our hide!"

Usopp thought it slightly strange, but just imagined they were pirates like them and if they meant him no harm, then that was fine with him. He boarded the tram and when everyone was on, it took off towards Bubble Four.

— — —

Sanji had gone to the restaurant district in Bubble One in hopes of two things: finding good food and recipes, and finding beautiful mermaids. Unfortunately, as Camie had said, mermaids were scarcer than Sanji thought.

It also didn't help that Sanji didn't remember what he learned with Kokoro, the mermaid driver of the Sea Train on Water Seven, that at the age of thirty, mermaid's tails split into two and they have "legs" so they look like anyone else. Because of this, every mermaid Sanji might have passed over thirty, he completely looked over, assuming them to be a normal human.

Regardless, most of the mermaids that he did see with tails were outside of the bubble swimming by rapidly, so he couldn't get a good look at them. Deciding to give up, he went towards one of the more good-smelling restaurants and try out their food.

He had enough cash on him to buy a single meal, so when he went into the restaurant and got seated, he needed to choose the right one and test it out. If it was good, he would go and ask the chef for the recipe and possibly some ingredients only found on Fishman Island.

He was seated in a roomy red booth and after hitting on the young waitress failed, he looked at the menu to try and find what was best. He wasn't that far in when he saw a man sprint towards the booth next to his full of people and yelling something like "Captain!"

The main man at the booth was an enormous man of at least six-four with muscles to go along with it. He had a pair of deep sunken in eyes and a short brown beard that was fashioned as a chin-strap. His brown hair was short, with only about a quarter of an inch of hair falling down to cover a small part of his forehead. He wore a massive brown captain's overcoat, covering a plain black shirt. He wore a pair of green military fatigues with black combat boots. He looked at the man and told him to be quiet.

"What is so important that you need to be interrupting my meal Turl?" he asked in a somewhat polite voice.

The man called Turl took a second to catch his breath before saying, "There was an…incident a while ago with these three people and long story short, a good thirty men were injured."

Sanji could hear the man react angrily as he hit his fist down on the table. After a few seconds, he seemed to relax and asked, "So who did it?"

"Well, three of them looked familiar, but I don't know off the top of my head…" The man scowled. "B-But, one of them was wearing a straw hat and one had three swords and the other was a woman."

"Straw hat you say?" he asked.

Turl nodded.

The man slumped back in his seat and said, "This is good. He's here…just like he said. Now we can finally get our plan into action and complete the mission."

Sanji leaned in a little closer to hear better.

The man laughed as he said, "The loss of thirty men won't be that big of a deal, in fact, it barely matters at all."

Turl began to walk away before the man said, "Turl."

He turned around and gulped. "Y-Yes, Captain Farraday?"

Sanji was able to see over the booth to see what the massive man named Captain Farraday did next. He took the knife he had in his hand and put it between his fingers. Turl seemed to know what he was going to do next as he pleaded excitedly.

"No Captain Farraday! Don't do that! I swear I'll make up for it! I'll—"

Before Sanji knew what happened, Turl stood there, the knife once in Farraday's hands now sticking out of his chest. He looked down with shocked eyes, then before he could say anything else, he fell down dead.

Sanji was repulsed, but he knew he couldn't react or they would know he was eavesdropping. No one seemed to notice this yet as they were all to busy with their own things, but Sanji knew they would soon.

Captain Farraday stood up as the people around him followed. "We can finally start the plan," he said to them. "I want you to get the word out to everyone immediately that we're putting it into motion."

"But Captain," one of the men said, "are we sure we can trust the employer to be true to his word?"

Captain Farraday turned to the speaker and said, "Do you think I'd do this if I didn't trust him? It doesn't matter; with what he's promising, I'd rather take the risk than do nothing at all."

They then walked away from Sanji's earshot.

As soon as they left, Sanji got up as well, knowing something big was going to happen, and he didn't much feel like eating anymore; he had lost his appetite.

Seeing someone get murdered in front of them has that effect on some people.

* * *

A new threat on the island emerges...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	32. The Speed Demon

A look at the ruler of Fishman Island. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**32: The Speed Demon**

Mermaid Princess Kalyn—unlike other leaders of royalty—could not be called a powerless figurehead.

Despite not technically being the age of thirty yet (she was twenty-seven currently), Kalyn could not hold the title of Queen, as every queen that succeeded before her was at least thirty years old, and that mandate of age had been set long ago. Regardless, she kept the title of Princess with a grain of salt and bided her time until she could rightfully call herself a queen.

Unlike most of those with the moniker of princess, Kalyn ran everything on Fishman Island. While she did have a larger than normal house in the Residential District of Fishman Island, she had a very business-like "office building" where she conducted her daily business.

About seven years ago, both of Kalyn's parents were captured and auctioned off as slaves while on a diplomatic trip on the land above. Both being one of the most beloved royal families, everyone on Fishman Island mourned their deaths as a "tragedy." Kalyn tried desperately to find out where her parents were auctioned off too, but after months of searching above the island, she only got rumors in the wind that both of them had died due to overwork.

Despite Kalyn's heavily-scarred soul after this event, she knew what she had to do, and took over as the rightful leader of Fishman Island. She tried to learn from her parents lessons of "ruling with kindness," and it showed in her governing powers.

Most of her powers went over that of taxing, law-making, public works programs; basic things leaders do for their country. She mostly stayed out of the fishmen and mermaids private lives and didn't impose any radical new changes; this was a big plus for her popularity, and as such, she is an incredibly well-liked leader.

So well liked, you see, that it was near impossible for any commoner to meet with her for a casual conversation.

Near impossible for anyone but Pappug.

Nami, Hachi, and Camie followed Pappug throughout the crowded streets of Bubble One, calling the directions from Camie's shoulder (as he did not want to get crushed by careless passersby) on which way to go.

Not before long, they all took a left turn and walked a bit, and soon enough they appeared in a relatively open space. A little ways off, they could see a large gate, stretching across in a large rectangle before finally going behind and out of their sight. Behind the gate stood a rather massive looking building that had all the feel of a corporation. At the gate stood two brawny-looking fishmen guards standing at the only part of the gate that could open.

"There it is," Pappug said, pointing eagerly at the building. "This is where the Princess works all day."

"It sure looks…unstylish," Nami said dully with perhaps a little bit of disappointment. "I thought you said the building was nice."

Pappug looked at Nami slightly confused. "What are you talking about? This building _does_ look nice and besides, you haven't seen the inside yet."

"You mean the inside is nicer?" she said, the excitement back in her voice again.

Pappug nodded, as they all continued towards the gate.

There were a few tourists crowded around the gate, trying to get some pictures and probably hoping to get inside, but the two humorless guards kept them at bay. The group went through the crowd and appeared at the front of the gate and was confronted by the two guards.

"Sorry, this is as far as you go," one of them said.

"Well, actually, you see," Pappug started, "I know the Princess personally. I often designed her clothes when she was younger and we're very good friends."

"Yeah, we get stuff like that a lot from tourists who want to meet the Princess," the other guard said.

"But how many of them who tell you that are a talking starfish designer?" He took out a small catalogue he carried and showed it to one of them.

He flipped through it, and after a few seconds, handed it back.

"I guess we could ask if the Princess knows any talking starfish," he said. "It does seem like there wouldn't be many."

He put in the request on a den-den mushi, and after a few minutes, there was a reply to let them in, so they did. They walked through the grassy area before the building and entered the double-doors.

Much to Nami's chagrin, the inside was just how she imagined it to be; business-like. There was a receptionist at the front who took their appointment, and as they sat down, Nami inspected the room to find it very sterile-looking with nothing valuable catching her eye.

"You said the inside was nicer," she said to Pappug gloomily.

"Don't worry," Pappug assured her. "It's even nicer when we go upstairs."

"It is?" she asked hopefully

"Yep, every person working in the officer has their own nice wooden table with a swivel-chair, desk lamp, and their own personal den-den mushi. How cool is that?"

It was then that Nami realized that there wasn't anything valuable to steal. Sighing, she resolved to meet the princess anyway, since it would be an interesting thing to do.

— — —

Captain Farraday did not know much about the word subtlety. With a hulking physique like his, one would think that he would try and minimize himself from public, but that was certainly not the case.

Farraday was loud, bombastic, brazen, blunt, and most of all, arrogant. He himself had boasted that he controlled one of the largest crews on the Grand Line, and that claim was not actually far-off. He prided himself on having what he called the "Breakneck Armada," a fleet of seven galleons filled to the hulls with pirates.

He was rumored to have more than 300 crewmen under his command, and while they weren't all around him now, they were scattered around all of Bubble One, waiting for his command.

This of course went perfectly with his plan.

Farraday was a pirate first, and a free-trade enterpriser second. He was well known for his notorious deeds of smuggling, blackmailing, kidnapping, and most of all, slavery. The Captain was a lover of money, and he himself had said on numerous occasions that it was the only thing a person could really believe in. Due to this line of thinking, Farraday and his crew had became known as freelancers, doing any kind of deed for the right price.

As it turned out, he was on Fishman Island for such a deed. He found a good buyer who promised him a handsome reward if he was able to complete the mission correctly, and Farraday couldn't resist what the buyer was promising him.

He brutishly pushed past crowds of people so he could get through with around fifty men spread out around him so they didn't attract attention as a large crowd. Eventually he and his men appeared by the office of Mermaid Princess Kalyn, and he ordered his men to spread out.

Lacking any form of subterfuge, Farraday reached in a small satchel hanging at his side and was able to pull out two standard spherical lead bullets that any pirate would use. He put one in each hand and walked closer to the gate with a few of his men, trying to act as tourists (thought with the way Farraday looked, that seemed…difficult).

He waited until the crowd was mostly clear before he walked towards the two fishmen guards. One raised his eyebrow quizzically and asked, "Can we help you?"

"Yes, I'd like to go and see your Princess and take her hostage so I can user her as a bargaining chip, and all for a large amount of money," Farraday bragged.

"What?"

Farraday realized what he did as he immediately covered his mouth with his hands.

"You've bragging too much again!" one of Farraday's men said. "You're gonna let out too much information!"

The fishmen took the threat seriously as they reached for their weapons, but Farraday was quicker than them, as he put the two bullets between his thumb and index finger and flicked them both at the guards. Surprisingly, they pierced their skin and blood flew out.

One guard fell down and fainted, but the other took the hit and was still conscious; he still wanted to fight. He threw a quick punch at Farraday, but he saw that he quickly dodged and grabbed the fishman's arm. Then he let loose several barrages with his free hand on the fishman's chest with startling speed.

The fishman spat out blood and hit the floor. Still slightly conscious, he coughed out, "How…"

"Fwewewewe," Farraday laughed at the guard and said braggingly, "I ate the Quick-Quick Fruit. It conditioned my muscles to the point where they can react near instantaneously for quick dodges and attacks; I'm also able to throw objects at the speed of a gun and—"

"Stop giving away so much Captain and let's go!" one of his men yelled, beginning to hope the gate.

Farraday realized he did it again as he covered his mouth and followed his men over the gate.

— — —

"Pappug!" Princess Kalyn said excitedly, getting up from her chair by her desk. "What a pleasure it is to see you!"

Pappug hopped off Camie's shoulder and hugged Kalyn. "It's been such a long time! Howya been?"

Nami tuned out their introductions as she looked around the room. She had held on to her fleeting hope that there might be something valuable to steal in her _office_ of all places, but when she saw nothing but a few portraits, a large window with the view of a large tree planted in a green lawn at the side of the office, a big cedar work desk, and a den-den mushi, she sighed, knowing her dream had died.

She turned to Princess Kalyn and saw that she herself was strikingly beautiful. The most obvious thing about her was her mermaid tail (_Duh_, Nami thought), which was a nice shiny mint-green color. She had a vibrant youthful face with strawberry-blonde hair that she wore in a loose ponytail. She wore what seemed to be a fairly common shirt, and wore no visible signs of jewelry. In short, she looked like a plain-looking (albeit beautiful) mermaid who one never would have guessed was a princess.

"Her parents recruited me to design her clothes when she was still a kid," Nami heard Pappug say as she tuned back in. "I was still a novice then, but I worked very hard."

"Oh you were fantastic," she said with a laugh. "You were the best designer in all of Fishman Island, even despite your age."

"Anyways," Pappug said, "these are my friends that I wanted you to meet. The mermaid is Camie, the fishman is Hachi, and the human is Nami."

She smiled warmly at all of them and held out her hand. "I'm pleased to meet you," she said.

All three of them shook hands as Pappug explained a little bit more about them.

"Nami is a part of the Straw Hat Pirates; she's their navigator, and she was interested in coming along with us to meet you in person."

"I've actually known a princess before," Nami stated. "Strange, but you reminds me an awful lot of her."

"Seeing as how she's a princess, I'll take that as a compliment," she said with a chuckle.

They all took seats as Pappug, Hachi, and Camie bantered. Nami listened, but didn't interrupt much. She listlessly thought of what her crewmates were doing at this moment.

_"Knowing them, they're probably getting in trouble," _Nami thought with a grin.

It was then she realized that this is what she had missed the most. After the whole fiasco with Kuma, she missed her crew deeply and wanted to get back to them, but this was what she missed the most. Going to a new island and just relaxing while meeting new people. That to Nami was the sweetest thing there was.

"Well it's been lovely speaking to all of you," Kalyn said, getting Nami to pay attention, "but I'm sure you all understand that I'm very busy at the moment."

"Of course," Hachi said with a blush and a smile. "We're sorry for intruding on your time."

"Oh it's no problem at all," she assured them. "We should all have lunch tomorrow. It would be nice to get away from all the politics for a little while."

"We'd really enjoy that," Pappug replied, speaking for everybody.

She smiled. "That's great! I'll find you some time between then and now and let you know where to meet me."

Everyone stood up and shook her hand again, and let their last formalities be known. Then, a loud crashing went on beneath them.

Everyone wondered what it was, as a fishman guard came through the door. "What's going on?" Kalyn asked.

"It's an attack, Princess," he said in a strangely calm voice. "We need you and your friends to stay in here; we'll get the invader out."

The Princess nodded as the fishman closed the door again, leaving them silent.

— — —

Captain Farraday took out a large amount of bullets from his satchel and threw them all at the oncoming guards with the speed of a gun.

"Quick Shots!"

Most of them struck, downing the group of guards in front of him. He let out a raucous laugh as he and his men continued down the various hallways going towards their final destination.

"Captain, we've let all of the squads know that we've started," one of his men said to him. "They should be starting to round up the citizens as we speak."

"Fwewewewewewe!" he laughed. "Fifty men per squad with each squad being placed in certain areas of the bubble should be more than enough to capture all the citizens of Bubble One! Good thing we got so many men, eh?"

"Sir, if you would stop bragging so much," the same man said. "It really does give away unnecessary information.

Farraday covered his mouth and sped through the guards, using incredible speeds before knocking them out with a quick use of his fists. Not before long, they reached Princess Kalyn's room and knocked out the final group of fishmen guards.

Farraday kicked the door in and saw Kalyn, Nami, Hachi, Camie, and Pappug all standing in the room, somewhat surprised, but looking grim-faced nonetheless. Farraday was quick and to the point with them.

"Looks like we got a few more people than we anticipated," Farraday said with a chuckle. "And two mermaids to boot. So why don't you make it easy and let us know which one of you goes by the name Kalyn."

"She's Princess Kalyn," Nami said quickly, pointing to Camie. "And that starfish there is her personal advisor."

They both looked surprised, but quickly adapted to the charade, knowing what Nami was going for. "Is that so?" he asked as he inspected Camie. "They said she was a young princess, and I guess they were right."

"What exactly do you want?" Kalyn asked.

"What any pirate would do in my position," he said. "We're here to take you and your little friends hostage."

Before anyone could react, Nami was already moving, pulling out her Perfect Clima-Tact as she struck the man nearest Farraday. They struck back, but she hopped away and said, "Thunder Charge!"

A bolt of electricity appeared on the end of the staff as she swung it around several times. She then yelled, "Swing Arm!" and struck another man with the electric shock, sending him crumpling to the floor.

Before she could do anymore, Farraday used his speed to get behind her and grab her arm, making her drop her staff. Without a word, he forced her to the ground.

"You're pretty feisty aren'tcha?" he asked with a grin. "And that weapon seems awful familiar. Just who are ya?"

Nami looked up and grinned. "I'm the girl who's gonna kick your ass!"

Then it all hit Farraday as he laughed. "I know who you are. You're Nami, the navigator to the Straw Hat Crew aren't you?"

Nami remained silent as a scowl appeared on her face.

"Good thing our employer gave us a wrap-sheet on all of you," he said.

He ordered his men to restrain Nami as he walked over to Kalyn's desk. He picked up her den-den mushi, as Kalyn asked, "What are you planning on doing?"

"Just you wait and see little missy," he said. "Though it doesn't involve you, but I guess another mermaid hostage won't hurt."

With that, he took the den-den mushi and began to speak into it.

* * *

A hostage situation...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	33. Ultimatum

Luffy, Zoro, and an issued set of demands. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**33: Ultimatum**

Jimbei stared down at the table with mild regret.

He was true to his word when he said they would go and get food, but after eating for near an hour now, he saw that Luffy's ravenous appetite would cost him dearly. He and Zoro and Hancock had finished eating a while ago, but Luffy just wouldn't let up. They sat at the back booth so they could get some privacy, as the chefs kept bring more and more food for the hungry Luffy's plate.

Despite his constant shoveling of food, Luffy did manage to explain their entire situation to Jimbei. He listened to it all intently and knew that it was a serious deal.

"A devil fruit that can steal and eat other people's devil fruits, eh?" he said quietly, inceptively.

Luffy took a large bite out of a haunch of meat as he said, "Yeah, pretty scary stuff huh?"

Zoro sat quietly, staring lazily at the crowd, while Hancock sat right next to Luffy, intent on helping him whenever he needed.

"It's a good thing Silvers save you then," he stated, "or you would have been captured like the rest of them."

"Yeah, he really saved my ass!" Luffy laughed. "Don't worry though, now that I have half of my crew and motivation back, we'll catch up to him, and after we clobber him and his crew, we'll go searching for Robin, Chopper, Brook, and Franky."

"From what it sounds like," Jimbei said, "This Victor fellow is already in the New World doing who knows what. If you really are intent on catching him, you should be leaving this island as soon as possible."

"Don't worry about that," Zoro said for Luffy, looking at the large fishman. "We just recently got here and everyone split up and is off exploring, but they all know to get back to the ship soon enough."

Jimbei took a sip of his drink and said, "That's good." He turned back to Luffy. "From what I hear, Victor is very strong, so what are you going to do when you finally fight him again?"

Luffy laughed at this surprisingly. "I don't know, but I guess I will when the time comes; it's always been like that."

"Such a free spirit…" Jimbei commented.

At this point, the waiter came up to the table and handed Jimbei the bill, personally thanking him for being so generous. Jimbei was confused, but when he saw the bill, he knew what he meant. Slight rage took over the usually calm fishman at that moment.

"387,000 berries!" he exclaimed. "And 300,000 of that was spent on you Luffy!"

Luffy looked absent-minded at him and smiled. "Sorry, I guess."

Jimbei sighed and slumped back in his seat, his calm returning. "Very well, consider this bill my personal thanks for setting me free from Impel Down and giving me a purpose once again."

The bill was paid and they were just about to leave their booth, when suddenly they heard a large crashing sound from what sounded like the door was being kicked in. They all looked to see ten armed pirates entering and holding their guns up.

"Alright everybody!" one of the pirates yelled. "Put your hands on your head and get up here in a nice orderly fashion! Anyone who doesn't comply will get executed on the spot! Those that do will not get harmed!"

"For now…" one snickered quietly.

The group fortunately wasn't noticed yet, as their booth was hidden well among the crowds of people. Zoro casually looked back and asked, "Hostage taking?"

"Seems that way," Jimbei scowled.

The patrons of the restaurant did as they were told as all of them quietly went towards the pirates and were being led outside. Jimbei looked at the window outside and saw several more pirates rounding up more civilians and bringing them to a certain area to be guarded.

"Sure doesn't look like a normal hostage taking situation," Hancock commented, looking out the window. "It looks like they're taking the whole city hostage."

"We have to stop them," Jimbei said, beginning to turn towards Luffy. "As a fishman, it's my duty to protect innocent—"

He saw that Luffy was already gone, running towards the pirates rounding up the civilians in the restaurant.

Before the hapless pirate could react, Luffy was on him, dealing him a fierce kick to the side of his face, sending him flying out of the restaurant. His fellow pirates reacted angrily, but Luffy made quick work of them. The civilians looked frightened at this, but Luffy looked back and smiled at them.

"Don't worry, we'll take care of them all; just find a safe place to hide, okay?"

They all nodded as Jimbei, Zoro, and Hancock were now up and going towards Luffy. Before they could reach the Captain, he already took off outside, going to fight the other pirates in the area.

It took only two minutes for the entire group to finish off the unmatched low-ranking pirates.

Zoro sheathed his sword and sighed. "They sure didn't put up much of a fight."

"They probably just didn't expect so much resistance," Hancock said indifferently.

Jimbei already went to the rounded up civilians and announced them free. "I would suggest you go and hide for your own safety, for it seems like the pirates aren't just taking us hostage, but probably the entire city!"

This unfortunately caused panic as the civilians fled in fear, completely disregarding Jimbei's words. He knew he couldn't stop them and let them go; most hid, while others ran wherever they wanted.

The group caught up with Jimbei as Luffy said excitedly, "You really think there's more of them?"

"That would seem likely," Jimbei stated. "Seeing as how we haven't seen a Captain or high-ranking officer in this vicinity, they must be working in other areas."

As soon as he finished, they heard a loud screech that went all across the city. "What's this?" Zoro asked Jimbei while covering his ears.

"It sounds like the emergency broadcast system!" he responded. "its several large speakers put all around Bubble One so everyone can hear them!"

He turned out to be right, as not before long, they all heard a voice that wasn't familiar to them, but soon would be.

"This is Farraday speaking," Captain Farraday said on the broadcast. "Or as I'm probably better known as, Breakneck Captain Russell Farraday the Speed Demon; Captain of the _massive _Breakneck Pirates, holder of 160 million berry bounty on my head, eater of the Quick-Quick Fruit, freelancer of any job that pays good money, and currently on the mission to—"

"—Captain, stop bragging so much!" they heard a man say, cutting Farraday off. "You're giving away too much information."

Silence on the band for a few seconds before Farraday cleared his throat and continued. "Anyways, I'm speaking on this intercom to let everyone in Bubble One know that I've captured your precious Mermaid Princess and am currently holding her hostage."

Everyone in the group reacted in shock, but with Jimbei mostly, as he best knew the gravity of the statement.

"Fwewewewewe, relax, relax," he said in a light-hearted tone. "I'm not planning on executing her or anything. I'm only holding her as leverage to get what I want."

After several seconds, he continued, "What I want exactly is quite simple. It has come to my attention that Straw Hat Luffy—with a current bounty of 300 million berries—is currently residing in Bubble One, and accompanying him is the 120 million berry Roronoa Zoro."

Seconds of silence again; the group couldn't help but think that Farraday was simply doing it just for dramatic purposes.

"So if you want your princess unharmed, I suggest you do one simple thing Straw Hat, come with your Pirate Hunter friend to the Princess's office building and surrender yourselves completely and unconditionally. If you do not comply within ten minutes, then I'm afraid we're going to have to take some…drastic measures."

"Luffy…this is—" Jimbei stammered.

"But of course I'm not ignorant. After all, what is a princess to a bunch of pirates? Well while I heard you and your crew are a kind-hearted bunch, I'm not willing to take any chances. So to make sure you comply with my demands, I've got a little more leverage."

There was a rumbling sound as if Farraday was moving the speaker from his mouth to somewhere else.

"Say hello Little Miss," Farraday chuckled.

"Luffy, don't come here!" they heard Nami yell. "It's a trap set for you and—"

The speaker was yanked away from her as Farraday's voice came back on. "Remember Straw Hat, ten minutes; you and your little Pirate Hunter friend show up at the Princess's office building without any will to fight. I assure you that if you cause a ruckus, I will know about it before you get to me, and I will have your little navigator and the princess executed; you have my word! Fwewewewewewewe!"

The broadcast abruptly shut off, leaving Luffy, Zoro, Hancock, and Jimbei standing there in silence, contemplating the weight of the words Farraday just said.

— — —

Usopp, during the time of the broadcast at Bubble One, was currently on the tram going away from Bubble Four and back to Bubble One. In his lap he had a large amount of supplies that he soon planned to put to good use.

Much to his surprise, Bubble Four was much different from Bubble One. It was just as the man had said to him; Bubble Four was a place for supplies and hardware, unlike the restaurants and tourism of Bubble One.

The first thing he noticed was the drastic change in population; there was probably only a quarter of the people in Bubble One in Bubble Four. Usopp wasn't one to complain about this, in fact, he welcomed it as it gave him a lot more room to browse around.

He was looking for some tools and supplies so he would be able to work on his next great invention while traveling, as his own supplies on the _Thousand Sunny_ were greatly diminished. Before he knew it, he had spent a good two hours or more just browsing every shop and buying what he thought he needed.

Despite trying to spend his money wisely, Usopp found that his own personal fortune he had been saving up, was greatly chopped after he was done shopping. He didn't let this get him down, however, as he knew he would get money again, but some of the supplies were found only on Fishman Island (at least that's what the seller told him).

So there he sat, drumming his fingers in his lap and whistling, his bag of purchases next to him, staring out at the many sea animals flying around, but most of all, the massive volcano which was called Arashi's Point.

Ignorant of what was stated at Bubble One, he got off the tram and began to walk back to the ship, eager to try out some of his new supplies on his large stockpiled blueprints of inventions he had yet to make. It didn't take him long, however, to realize something was wrong.

He saw that there were almost no people around, so he decided to investigate. Silently (mostly due to his cowardly instincts taking over), he peeked around the corner of a building and saw what he had feared. There was a large—and that meant large—crowd of people kneeling down in what looked to be the town square of Bubble One. All of them had their hands on their head, while all around them, a large group of armed pirates talked and laughed and kept their guns trained on people, warning them not to move, or their life would effectively be ended.

Thankfully, they didn't see Usopp, as he quickly went back, resolving to make it back to the _Thousand Sunny_ without getting captured. Luckily, there weren't a large amount of guards in the area (as Usopp imagined most of their man-power went to keeping that large group in check), and the few he did come across, he had plenty of warning and was able to successfully hide.

Not before long, he made it back to the ship and immediately went to his own personal chambers, threw his supplies in the corner, and sat on his bed, contemplating what to do next. He tried to mull over in his head what was going on, and he kept coming back to one simple conclusion.

Pirate takeover.

Usopp wasn't ignorant to the news on the seas. He knew that Fishman Island was once constantly invaded by pirates seeking fishmen and mermaids, and they never let up. This was changed, however, when Whitebeard claimed the island to be his, and since then, the island had not been invaded. Now, however, pirates were at it again, and Usopp didn't know—

He heard footsteps on the ship.

He quickly got out his slingshot Kabuto (which he stored under his bed) and stared at the door, terror and determination shining in his eyes. The footsteps drew closer, as Usopp decided to ambush whoever was coming. He quietly inched slid towards the door, and as soon as it opened, he threw himself on the invader.

Usopp jumped on his back and sent him sprawling to the floor. Then, with a flurry of energy, began to strike him, completely forgetting about his weapon. This went on for a few seconds before he heard:

"Hey, Usopp! Stop that will you!"

Usopp stopped; it was Sanji.

He got off him, apologized, and asked Sanji what he was doing. "Well, I kinda caught wind of this whole attack before they did it," Sanji said, rubbing the back of his head. "So naturally, I wanted to warn the crew, but after searching for a long time, I found no one."

"Well I was in Bubble Four," Usopp remarked.

Sanji ignored the comment and continued. "Anyways, when the invasion did happen, I was able to slip through the pirate's defenses and make it back to the _Sunny_, hoping someone else would be here, but as I soon found out, no one."

"So you just stayed here?" Usopp asked a little surprised. "I thought you would have done something by now!"

"Normally I would," he said, "but Usopp, I just heard some startling news. The man who put this whole thing together is just after Luffy, and he's holding Nami and the Mermaid Princess hostage at her office."

"What?"

Sanji calmed him down and continued. "So of course I wasn't going to let this happen, and I was about to leave to do something, when I heard you come, so I waited to make sure, and here we are."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Usopp asked, gripping Kabuto. "We gotta go rescue them now!"

"No, we're not going to do that."

"What the hell do you mean?"

Sanji gripped Usopp by his shirt and said, "Listen for a second! Knowing Luffy and that stupid Marimo, they already turned themselves in. You think we can just barge into the princess's office and just take them back? It won't be that simple."

He released Usopp, as he simply asked, "So what do we do then Sanji?"

Sanji lit a cigarette and smiled. "Just call me Mr. Prince…"

* * *

Plotting a rescue?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	34. The Paradise Prisoners

Farraday's plan continues. Enjoy!

**When I updated this story on Saturday, the amount of views was around 250 for that day, the highest viewership in a long time. Yet with all of those views, I only got 2 reviews. I know more of you are out there, and I really would like to hear your thoughts on the story. Of course I'm not complaining since some many people are reading my story, but come on, every author loves to hear what people think in reviews. =D**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**34: The Paradise Prisoners**

Russell Farraday leaned back in the seat a little more, and put his feet up on the desk in front of him. Quietly, he whistled a small tune that everyone in the room could hear.

The tensions were high; there were no doubts about that; as Farraday whistled his quiet tune, Nami, Camie, Hachi, Pappug, and Kalyn the Mermaid Princess sat restlessly, eyes constantly shifting towards one another in a mixture of anticipation and fear.

"You know," Farraday said, shifting in his chair a little, "I really have nothing against you guys. In fact, if the situations were any different, I'm sure we'd be good friends."

"Perhaps, but you've let your greed ruin that now, haven't you?" Nami shot back.

Farraday laughed at this. "Sorry Little Miss," he said, "but it's kind of weird to be hearing you say that. From what I hear, you're quite the little cat burglar yourself."

Nami laughed and said, "I only steal money from pirates, not from commoners; don't put yourself on the same level as me."

Farraday put his feet down from the desk and stated, "And here I thought we had some kind of understanding. Listen up Little Miss, money is the only true thing a pirate can believe in. His crew can have a mutiny, the Marines could catch up to ya, the civilians could take ya, or the sea can have her way with you. In the Grand Line, nothing is a guarantee…except money. This is the philosophy I live by, and it's the only real truth I've ever known."

"Captain, I really wish you would stop your bragging, or else—" one of the men started.

"Ah, shaddup!" remarked Farraday.

"I hope you know Luffy's not gonna stand for this," Nami said with a smirk. "And once he's here, then we'll just see how strong your _philosophy_ holds."

"Fwewewewewewe! I like you Miss," Farraday laughed. "Don't you be worrying about Straw Hat bargin' in on us. I've got a hundred of my best men just in this building alone, all around the perimeter and all inside as well. Once your Luffy comes, he'll immediately be surrounded and brought to me."

Nami let the silence continue for a second before replying. "If you think he's gonna come in peacefully, then you're dead wrong. Luffy isn't the negotiating type."

"No, I'd imagine not," Farraday said. "But don't you worry, even if he did just come in guns blazing, I would be able to tell long in advance, and by the time he comes here, I'll be prepared, with you and the little Princess over there." He looked to Camie.

Just then, the den-den mushi on the desk went off, and Farraday picked it up almost immediately.

"Yes?"

"Captain, we've just confirmed sight of Straw Hat Luffy and Pirate Hunter Zoro," the man on the other line said. "They seem to be walking calmly with no intent to strike. Regardless, I've alerted the other guards and brought them to this position."

"Perfect!" Farraday exclaimed. "Listen, as soon as they get close, I want Luffy handcuffed in seastone and Zoro's swords taken away; handcuff him as well."

"Yes, Captain."

Farraday hung up the den-den mushi and turned back to Nami. "Well it seems like Straw Hat complied with my demands after all. Quite a shock I must say, fwewewewewe!"

Nami remained silent, but thought, _"Luffy…what are you doing?"_

— — —

_It took Luffy a mere five seconds to storm away from the group in what seemed to be with an air of confidence._

_"Hey, Luffy, where are you going?" Zoro called to his captain._

_"What's it look like?" he simply answered. "I'm going to kick this Farraday's ass and free Nami."_

_"Are you crazy?" Zoro shot back. "We're dealing with a hostage situation Luffy, we can't just—"_

_"Well what do you want me to do?"_

_Zoro could tell Luffy was conflicted, as he sighed. "Look," he said, softening his voice. "Usually I'm right behind you with these kinds of decisions, but even I can understand the gravity of the situation."_

_"Zoro's right Luffy," Jimbei cut in. "Don't forget that they don't only have Nami in there, but the Mermaid Princess too. I understand your reasons, but you must think of what the Fishmen would think if they saw their leader being executed because of carelessness. And this Farraday is a very well-known pirate for what he's done. He's been around for a while, and let's just say, that he often makes good on his threats."_

_Luffy remained silent for a second, before walking towards the group again. "So what do you think we should do?"_

_They all internally breathed a sigh of relief (including Hancock) when they heard that. "Well I think it's quite obvious," Zoro said. "We have to turn ourselves in."  
"What the hell kind of plan is _that_?" Luffy asked in near anger, gripping Zoro's shirt._

_Zoro swatted away Luffy's grip. "Think for one second dumbass! They're only holding Nami and the Princess because they want us—want _you_ more specifically. Until we guarantee their safety, we can't do anything, and turning ourselves in is the fastest way to ensure that!"_

_Luffy took a few steps back, and put his hands up to his head, unsure of what to do._

_"Plus," Jimbei added, "I don't think Farraday knows or even cares about me or Hancock, so we'd be on the outside."_

_"Once we guarantee that Nami and whoever else is being held hostage is safe," Zoro continued, "then we can strike, and trust me, I want a crack at this bastard as much as you do."_

_Luffy shook his head several times, before finally saying quietly, "Alright, let's do it…"_

— — —

"Nice to see you show up," the apparent leader of the group outside of the Mermaid Princess's office said. "My name is Bale, and I guess you could say that I'm the First Mate of the Breakneck Pirates."

Both Zoro and Luffy stood silently in front of Bale, not breaking their gaze. Bale stood at normal height, and had nothing special about his features at all, save for the two claymore swords strapped onto his back.

Bale seemed unaffected by their gaze as he continued, "Now as per orders, I'm supposed to handcuff both of you, so if you would both be cooperative, we can get you to the Big Man himself in just a few minutes."

Zoro and Luffy looked at each other, and after a few seconds, nodded their heads. Bale signaled to the guards, who took out two pairs of handcuffs: one made of seastone, and one regular, handcuffing them behind their backs.

"And we'll need to take your swords as well," Bale said to Zoro, pointing to his weapons.

"Like hell you are!" Zoro growled angrily.

Bale held his ground. "Captains orders. Don't worry, no harm will be done to them…but if you insist on resisting, then I could just tell the Big Man himself and—"

"Fine!" Zoro said, the anger still in his voice.

"Very good." Bale signaled to the guards, who took Zoro's three swords and handed them over to him.

"Fine blades," he remarked, pulling one out of its sheath before quickly sheathing it again. He saw that both men were restrained, so he signaled for them to start moving as he walked towards the building.

"Follow me."

— — —

Farraday looked at Luffy and Zoro with surprise as they both walked through the door, with Bale at their back.

"Hello, hello," he said hastily. "Please come in. Hope you don't mind the hostages here, fwewewe."

Zoro and Luffy saw that not only Nami and the Princess were captured, but Hachi, Camie, and Pappug as well. Internally, they both scowled, knowing that Farraday now had even more leverage over them.

Farraday inspected the two men, as if to confirm it was really them. After a few seconds, he began to speak "So, it's good to finally have you two with us," he said light-heartedly. "And don't worry about getting hurt or anything; my specific orders were to hand you over unharmed."

"And whose orders were they?" Nami asked defiantly.

Farraday cracked a smile. "We'll find out soon enough."

"Not _we'll_," Luffy interjected. "_Me!_ You mean to say that _I'll_ find out soon enough; you only need me, and that's all you're going to get."

Farraday laughed at this with vigor. "Fwewewewewe! So you think you can negotiate with me, eh Straw Hat? That's just the funniest thing I've ever heard."

"It's not negotiations," Luffy firmly stated. "It's a fact."

Farraday abruptly stopped laughing, and eyed Luffy. He saw that he was serious, so then he seriously said, "Fair enough. The orders only specified about you, and not anyone else. However, in regards of trading in your crew's safety, I'll want something in return."

"What would that be?"

"That you'll come without trouble or struggle," he stated. "In short, you must be completely docile."

After a few seconds, Luffy nodded.

"Very good," he said. "But I'm sure you'll understand when I say that I can't let your crew go until I'm sure you're safe on my ship heading out to our destination."

He picked up the den-den mushi and called for someone.

"Yes?" the person asked.

"We've got the package," Farraday said. "You know what to do now right?"

After several seconds: "Yes."

Farraday hung up, and Zoro felt inclined to ask, "What was that about?"

"It's just some last minute things," Farraday replied. "What to do with the hostages, getting the ship ready, ex cetera, ex cetera; nothing to concern yourself with, I assure you. Regardless, we'll just stick around here with the little Princess until I get confirmation that we're ready to go."

Zoro, Nami, and Luffy eyed each other, each seeming to sense what the other was thinking. Although they wouldn't be able to explain it later, every one of them felt a strange sense of calm when they caught each others gaze.

— — —

"Tendon Tenderizer!"

"Aaaarrrggghhhhh!"

The luckless pirate flew back from the strength of Sanji's kick, as he simply stood there smirking. He looked around and saw that the fight was still raging, and the pirates wouldn't let up.

A pirate snuck up on Sanji, but before his blow could connect, Sanji dropped down and swept the man's legs, sending him flying to the floor with a jolt of pain. Not having time to let up, he got back up, did a back-flip over a pirate, and landed on one behind him, knocking him out cold.

He dropped his cigarette as he continued his routine of dodging and attacking much less powerful pirates.

He and Usopp went their separate ways, each knowing their individual mission. Sanji (under the moniker of Mr. Prince now), snuck around all of Bubble One until he found what he was looking for. Right smack dab in the middle of the Bubble, every single hostage rounded up was there in a massive circle on their knees with their hands behind their heads, and surrounding them on all sides was a massive pirate force.

Sanji's mission was quite simple, freeing all of the prisoners so Farraday would have less leverage, and if he could, build up a fighting force of fishmen pirates so they could storm Farraday's strong hold and rescue Nami.

He snuck onto the top of a building overseeing the hostages and pirates, and (after putting on his trademark glasses he found on the ship), he got up and yelled to the top of his lungs.

"Prisoners! Mr. Prince is here to liberate you!" Everyone looked up at the suited figure. "But I need your help! Any prisoner strong enough to rebel should aid me, and anyone who can't should take cover."

With that, he leapt off the building and landed on his hands immediately in the middle of the pirates. He began to spin both his legs around, saying, "Party Table Kick Course!"

The force of his kicks knocked the closest pirates away, and the battle had begun.

Much to Sanji's surprise, there was a fair amount of prisoners who were willing to fight. He guessed they just needed someone to kick start the attack, or maybe they were planning something themselves; Sanji didn't know for sure.

Regardless, they entered the combat right along Sanji, as the terrified prisoners were able to flee once the chaos broke out. People died, pirates and prisoners alike, but that was to be expected.

The battle was winding down now, but there was still a small group of ferocious determined pirates ready to fight to the last man. Sanji got caught up in the moment for a second, and before he could react, the pirate brought his blade down upon him.

Sanji's shoulder was slashed and as a reaction he fell to the floor, gripping his new wound. The pirate was obviously elated as he hovered over Sanji with his blade raised high, intent on ending the Cook's life.

"5,000 Brick Fist!"

The pirate was immediately sent flying, as Sanji looked up and saw the form of Jimbei standing there, his fist held out. He stared up at the giant fishman speechless, but Jimbei helped Sanji up anyway.

"You're part of the Straw Hat Crew, correct?" he asked.

Sanji nodded.

"I'm a good friend with your Captain; that's all you need to know now," he simply said, before joining the fray yet again.

Sanji looked and saw Boa Hancock there as well, kicking at any pirate in her way.

Needless to say, once the two former Shichibukai joined, the fight was ended in the blink of an eye. When it was done, and the prisoners stood victorious, Sanji went up to Jimbei and shook his hand.

"Thanks for saving my ass there," he said.

"It was my obligation," he simply responded.

Sanji turned to Hancock and asked, "I thought you were with Luffy; don't tell me that idiot went and turned himself in."

She nodded. "Him and Zoro."

"Then what are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be rescuing him?"

Jimbei explained. "Our first priority was to free all of the prisoners Farraday had rounded up, and then we would make a ragtag army and go face off against Farraday's massive force at the Princess's office."

Sanji lit up and couldn't help but laugh. "That's exactly what I was planning to do. Small world, isn't it?"

"Well when you consider the number of options we have, it's not that hard to believe," Hancock said without humor.

"So why don't you do the honors of leading this force then, since they probably know you the best," Sanji suggested to Jimbei.

He nodded, and moved in front of the group of prisoners that had stayed. "I'm sure I don't need to remind you that Farraday is holding the Mermaid Princess—our governing leader—hostage. He used her to gain leverage on a very close friend of mine, and I don't know about you, but I won't stand for that!"

The men gave a rousing cheer; clearly they were in high-spirits.

"So I propose," Jimbei continued, "that we march to where Farraday is cooped up, and show him that we on Fishman Island won't stand for this type of behavior. It's true that we've had Whitebeard protect us for all these years, but now that he is gone, we need to stand up for ourselves and fight! Are you with us?"

The men gave a massive battle cry, and raised any weapons they managed to steal from the defeated pirates.

Jimbei then turned back towards Sanji and Hancock, and said to the men behind them, "Then let's go!"

"Pretty good speaker, isn't he?" Sanji asked Hancock.

"Just as long as we rescue Luffy, I don't care what we do," Hancock replied with a blush on her cheeks.

Sanji sighed, and then lit another cigarette for the road.

* * *

Trouble on the horizon...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	35. Revise the Right to Revolt

Captured, what next? Enjoy!

**Well, Summer's rolled around the corner, so this means I'll be able to update three times a week instead of twice a week (yay!). The new set dates are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Hope you enjoy =D**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**35: Revise the Right to Revolt**

Time lazily swept by in Mermaid Princess Kalyn's office, as the atmosphere was what it had been the entire time…awkward.

Farraday, despite all of his attempts to lessen the status quo, found that he could not succeed; the room was still quiet, unsettling, and at best, bearable for the time being.

Farraday, his First Mate Bale, and a good five other men were in the room, watching Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Camie, Kalyn, Hachi, and Pappug to make sure they didn't do anything suspicious. It turned out, however, that no one needed any watching at all, as the entire group just sat quietly, only looking at each other from time to time, but offering nothing greater than that.

Farraday massaged his temples in frustration as he was finally forced to ask, "So besides the whole me capturing you thing, what did you think of Fishman Island?"

They all remained silent, and Farraday knew his attempts at small-talk were useless. "I heard you were such a lively and chatty fellow," he said, addressing Luffy. "What's with the sudden silence?"

"You seem to know a lot about me and my crew," Luffy finally said. "Why don't you tell us where you got that information from?"

"Nice try, but I'm not giving you the name of my employer," he stated. "For now, you'll just have to settle for the fact that he knows all about you, and wants me to bring you to him; it's as simple as that."

A few more minutes of silence passed. Farraday fidgeted in his seat increasingly throughout that time, and finally, he slammed his fists down on the table and exclaimed, "What the hell is taking so long? We should have heard back from the crew a while ago!"

Bale calmly shrugged his shoulders and suggested, "Why don't you try getting in contact with them again?"

Farraday's face lit up as he said, "Good idea!" He picked up the den-den mushi on the table and said into it, "Hey, Yapon, what's taking so long with the prisoners and transports?"  
Farraday expected a response from Yapon, but there was only silence. "Do you copy Yapon? Hey, answer your Captain damn it!"

Only silence on the band.

Farraday slammed the den-den mushi down angrily and pointed to Bale. "Go and find out what's going on with the hostage situation. Hopefully, it's just a communications block, but if it's the worst-case scenario that would mean…"

Bale nodded and signaled to the five men in the room to follow. Just before he could leave, however, there was suddenly a response on the den-den mushi. Unfortunately, it only came in the form of static, but Farraday picked it up nonetheless.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me? It's me, Breakneck Captain Russell Farraday the Speed Demon on the line. You know, eater of the Quick-Quick Fruit, holder of a 160 million berries, freelancer in all things—"

Farraday's bragging was cut off when the person on the other line cut in. "Sir! Sir, this is Yapon speaking! We've been cut off—_bzzt_—the prisoners are rioting and—_bzzt_—there seems to be a leader of—oh God, is that…oh shit it is! Men, form a perimeter, hold your positions and…"

"Yapon, stop messing around and give me a full report now!" Farraday demanded.

_"There's a mother fucking riot going on!"_ Yapon yelled. _"Requesting immediate back-up, or else we won't hold! Are you listening? Requesting immediate fucking—"_

Farraday hung up the den-den mushi in anger. He immediately picked up the den-den mushi next to it, the one that broadcasted all over Bubble One, and said, "Breakneck Crew! It's come to my attention that there are some rebels in our midst. I want everyone redeployed to the front of the Princess's Office Building to await further orders; oh, and if you happen to come across the intruders yourself…then happy hunting!"

He hung up.

"Bale!" he yelled harshly. "Get down to the front of the office with everyone and go to Yapon's position! See what you can find out and if you can, put down the rebellion! I'll stay here with the—"

"Sunflower Star!"

Farraday was cut off as five pellets were shot through the massive window in the shape of a pentagon, hitting the wall where Farraday and his men were on. Surprisingly, as soon as they struck the wall, they immediately exploded, causing the walls to crumble and knocking out three of his five men.

"What the fuck was that?" he immediately asked.

"Super Smoke Star!"

Another pellet was shot through the window and landed in the middle of the room. As soon as it hit the floor, smoke began to spew out of it, causing a smoke screen to fill up the entire room.

"Those attacks, it has to be…" Zoro said, hitting the floor and coughing from the smoke.

Luffy's vision struggled through the smoke screen, but he looked out the massive window to the tree adjacent to it, and saw who he suspected he saw sitting atop the highest branch of the tree.

"Sogeking!" he yelled happily.

"Usopp?" Nami asked in a confused voice. "Is he trying to kill us?"

"Fear not!" they heard Sogeking yell through his mask. "I, the great Sogeking, am here to save you hostages from a most certain—_AAGH!_"

Unfortunately for Usopp, Farraday saw him through the smoke screen, and took out a handful of bullets from his satchel and threw them at him at the speed a gun would fire. All of the bullets came close, but none of them hit Usopp, but it was close enough to scare him. Farraday wasn't amused as he reached under the desk to pull out a cannonball.

"Hey, wait is that—" Sogeking said disjointedly.

"Quick Cannon!" Farraday yelled, throwing the cannonball straight at Usopp.

Sogeking yelped with fright as the cannonball flew through the window and went towards his tree. Luckily, he was able to jump out of the tree right before the cannonball hit. He hit the ground hard as the cannonball struck the tree, causing a large explosion and knocking the tree down to the ground.

Farraday was now on his feet moving towards the center of the room. He grabbed Camie hard by the collar, causing her to scream, and said to Bale, "Come on, we're taking the Princess and Straw Hat with us; no one else matters."

"Let go of her!" Pappug yelled desperately.

Farraday turned towards the starfish for a second, and that was when a handcuffed Luffy struck. Letting out a massive roar, he got to his feet and started sprinting towards Farraday. The Breakneck Captain turned around only to see Luffy a few inches away, and by that time it was too late.

Lowering his head, Luffy slammed straight into Farraday's stomach, causing him to grunt with pain and let go of Camie at the same time. The strike had so much momentum that it sent both Luffy and Farraday speeding towards the massive window, and striking it with a crash; they both fell helplessly onto the grassy area below.

"Luffy!" Nami cried, looking out the now broken window at the two fallen figures.

"Shit!" Bale said, moving towards Camie. "The Big Man can take care of Straw Hat, but I have to take care of you little Princess."

Unfortunately for Bale, however, Zoro was already on him, slamming his body straight into Bale's, sending him flying back towards the wall in pain. Zoro stood there, unmoving, despite being handcuffed, and said proudly, "You guys aren't getting your way anymore; now we are!"

Bale was up on his feet and growled.

"Now where are my swords?" Zoro asked.

Bale brought both his hands towards his back and brought out both of his claymores that were resting on his back. He looked over at Zoro's three swords resting on Kalyn's desk. He leapt in front of the desk and taunted, "Try and get it if you can!"

"Nami!" Zoro yelled.

"What?"

"Go and find whatever help you can and bring them here!" he yelled. "And take everyone else to safety as well!"

"I can't do much," she said, "but I'll certainly try." She looked at Hachi, Camie, Pappug, and Kalyn, and finished, "Come on, follow me!"

They all ran towards the door, but Bale was already moving towards them, his two claymores ready to strike. "I'm not letting you pass!"

"That's not your choice!" Zoro said defiantly.

Bale looked and before he could say anything, Zoro once again threw his entire body to Bale's unprotected side, sending them both crashing to the ground. The group took this chance to get through the door.

"Remember to watch out for the guards!" Zoro yelled to the group's back.

When they were gone, both Zoro and Bale were back on their feet. "What a disaster!" Bale said. "To think that all of this could be going on at once."

"You haven't seen anything yet," Zoro smirked.

"Well that's fine, the crew will capture the escaping hostages, the Big Man will capture Straw Hat, and…" He brandished his claymores ferociously. "I'll kill you for making a fool outta me, Roronoa Zoro!"

Zoro shifted to the side slightly and said, "You can try…"

— — —

Luffy and Farraday were now both fully conscious and got back to their feet. Farraday cracked his neck and said, "That was quite a stunt you pulled Straw Hat."

Luffy moved slightly, but kept his gaze at Farraday. His hands were still cuffed behind his back, canceling out his arms and devil fruit power from the fight.

"I think your courage is admirable," Farraday continued. "But it's no use; without your Gum-Gum powers, you are nothing before me. It will only be a matter of time before I capture you again and send you away for good!"

At this point, Usopp (still under the guise of Sogeking) got up from the ground and shook his head. "Oooof…that hurt."

"Sogeking!" Luffy suddenly yelled, giving Usopp a small fright. "I need your help."

Sogeking turned towards Luffy and tried his best to heroically say, "What is it you need?"

"I need you to find me the keys to these seastone cuffs I'm wearing!" Luffy shot back. "I saw Farraday put it away somewhere in the office we just came from; he put it in the desk!"

"Fwewewewewewe! Fool!" Farraday laughed. "What kind of idiot do you take me for? I only acted like I put it there to fool you, when I really put it in that secret compart—mmmbgh!"

Farraday suddenly realized he was bragging to much as he covered his mouth to cut himself off. Unfortunately for them, the message both Luffy and Usopp got was clear. Sogeking gave Luffy a thumbs up and said, "Don't worry about it valiant Straw Hat! The trustworthy Sogeking is on the case!"

"And what makes you think I'm going to let you leave?" Farraday threatened with a growl, shortly before sprinting towards Usopp with unimaginable speed.

Usopp reacted quickly but shooting three pellets to the ground by him. "Special Oil Star!" he said.

The pellets shot oil out on the ground, and before Farraday could stop himself, he slid into it, sending him speeding towards the wall instead of towards Usopp. Luffy saw his opportunity as he suddenly ran towards the uncontrollable Farraday.

Right when Farraday was about to hit the wall of the building, Luffy leapt into the air and yelled, "Gum-Gum Stamp!"

Despite not having the powers to stretch at the moment, Luffy was able to connect his foot with the back of Farraday's head, sending his face crashing against the wall with a massive thud.

Farraday fell silently to the ground as Luffy turned towards Usopp. "Go now Sogeking! And be back soon, or else I might not be here!"

Sogeking gave him another thumbs up, before sprinting around the corner to enter the building from the front.

Farraday was now on his feet, blood streaming out of his mouth and nose at the force of the blow. He looked at Luffy angrily and barked, "That was a low blow!"

"Sorry," Luffy smiled, "but I gotta do what I can to improvise in this situation!"

"You underestimate me boy!" Farraday said. "Let me show you the real power of the Quick-Quick Fruit!"

He suddenly disappeared and reappeared right behind Luffy. Without giving him a word, he kicked Luffy in the back, sending him sprawling to the floor.

"Near instantaneous travel," Farraday said. "The Quick-Quick Fruit constantly conditions my muscles to such a degree that I am able to travel as if I'm teleporting from one place to another."

Luffy was suddenly on his feet and swung his leg towards the open Farraday. "Gum-Gum Whip!"

He suddenly disappeared and appeared at Luffy's side, dealing him a fierce shot to the head, sending Luffy back to the ground again.

"And don't think it doesn't help my dodging ability as well," he laughed.

Luffy simply lied there for a second, face-down in the grass, trying to think up a new strategy.

— — —

The marching had stopped, and the group along with it.

Led by Sanji, Jimbei, and Hancock, the group of prisoners now set free stood behind them, scavenged weapons at the ready. Around the corner was the Princess's office, where they were prepared to launch a half-baked ambush on a few unsuspecting pirates guarding the area, so they could get in.

Sanji dropped his finished cigarette, crushed it, adjusted his glasses, and said, "They'll know something's up ever since we took out that patrol; that one guy had a den-den mushi and was yelling something to Farraday. If we want the upper-hand, now is the time to strike."

Jimbei and Hancock nodded, and before any other words could be spoken, they felt a massive earthquake. The ground shook beneath them and they all looked at each other with confused faces.

"What the hell is going on?" Sanji finally asked.

Then, immediately following the earthquake, they heard a massive rumble followed by an ear-splitting roar. They all looked outside of Bubble One, and confirmed what they all had been thinking.

Arashi's Point, the massive volcano sitting at the center of Fishman Island, was erupting. The loud noise, ground tremors, and massive rumbling told it all. If Arashi's Point hadn't erupted yet, it was about to.

"For as long as anyone could remember, it's remained dormant…" Jimbei whispered. Then, he turned to the small army they had and yelled, "This must be a sign! Even the land itself wants us to fight! Let us wait no longer to put this scoundrel in his place and rescue the Mermaid Princess with our own hands!"

The group gave a massive cheer to that, and with that, they charged towards the building, regardless of whether the pirates were prepared or not. The tremors and noise gave them drive.

The volcano itself signaled the attack.

* * *

All-out attack!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	36. Chaos, Chaos, Chaos, Chaos

The fight is on. Who will win? Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**36: Chaos, Chaos, Chaos, Chaos**

Sogeking was in a tough spot. He quickly took off when Luffy gave him the opening to run, and he disappeared around the corner, leaving the two for their inevitable battle. When he bounded the next corner, however, he quickly turned back in fear. He peeked around and saw it wasn't just his imagination this time.

There was a "shitload" (as Sogeking himself put it) of pirates out on the front of the building, just standing idly, as if waiting for something.

_"Shit! They must be there due to Farraday's orders," _Sogeking thought. _"I won't be able to fight my way through them; the best I can do is to sneak around."_

Usopp looked and saw that the building was at least three stories (with the window Luffy and Farraday fell out of being at the top) and Usopp unfortunately lacked the equipment at the moment to climb it (leaving it all on the _Thousand Sunny_). For a brief moment, Sogeking panicked, as he squatted close to the floor and clutched his head.

_"If I try and use a smoke screen or anything else, I'll never make it," _he thought. _"But I have to help Luffy as soon as possible!"_

Sogeking then realized what he had to do: he had to confront them.

He would start with a smoke screen, spread a bit of anarchy, pick off a few men, and then he would sneak in while the confusion reigned. Hopefully, due to Farraday's orders, there was no one in the building still, and even if there was, he would be able to—

The ground began to rumble.

Usopp looked around and felt the earth beneath him begin to shake. "An underwater earthquake?" he asked himself quietly. "What are the odds of—"

Then heard a massive cheer go up, and he immediately turned towards their direction; what he saw made him think he was imagining it. He saw Sanji, Hancock, and a _massive_ fishman leading a ragtag-looking army straight towards the building. He didn't know what took Sanji so long to finally back him up, but he was glad he came now.

The Breakneck Pirates certainly saw this as a surprise as well, as they all started asking what was going on, and before they could properly mobilize, the small army was on them. They busted down the gate and charged headlong into the pirates, sparking a massive battle.

Bullets were fired, swords were swung, fists were brought out, and all matter of bedlam ensued. Sogeking then bounded around the corner and ran towards Sanji, Hancock, and Jimbei.

"It is I, the great Sogeking, here to aid you brave adventurers," Sogeking said to the group.

Sanji looked slightly surprised and said, "Oh, hi Usopp."

"Shhh!" he said in a hushed tone, putting his finger to his lips. "Don't give away my secret identity!"

"Right…" Sanji said. "What's the status report?"

Usopp wrenched his thumb towards the back of the building and said, "Luffy's fighting against that Farraday guy all alone with seastone cuffs on. I know he's Luffy, but with this handicap, he might need some help."

"Luffy's in trouble?" Hancock demanded. "I have to help him now!"

"Right!" Sanji said. He turned to Jimbei. "Can we trust command of the army to you?"

Jimbei gave Sanji a thumbs up before knocking down a hapless pirate.

"Come on Usopp!" Sanji said, as they both started running towards the corner.

Sogeking shook his head and said, "My job is to find the key to the cuffs!" he responded. "I'm going to search the building for it!"

"Alright!" Sanji yelled back. "Be careful!"

Usopp nodded, and, finally finding an opening, ran into the building.

— — —

Zoro dodged yet another strike from Bale, as he was able to hop up and land a light kick at Bale's chest, sending him back a few inches. He gripped his chest and looked at Zoro with indignation.

"You insolent dog!" he said. "How can you fight with your hands bound and no swords?"

Zoro smirked as he ran towards Bale saying, "Sometimes a swordsman's got to improvise!"

Bale readied his two claymores and when Zoro was close enough, he brought them down with frightening speed. Zoro, however, was able to dodge to the side and appeared at Bale's side. Not wasting any time, he was able to jump up and kick Bale in the ribs, sending him to the floor gripping his chest, finding it hard to breathe.

Then, the rumbling started. Both men paused for a second as the quakes continued at their steady pace. After a few seconds, both of them discarded it, and went back to what they were doing.

"If you're the First Mate, then this must be a weak crew…" Zoro sighed.

Bale was back up and gripped his two swords tightly. "You wanna see why I'm the First Mate? Fine! I'll show you!"

He brought both claymores in front of him and began to spin them around. Soon, he got them spinning at the speed and flurry of a windmill. "Technique of the Mountains," Bale said to Zoro. "Forward Locust Rush!"

Zoro's eyes shot open as he saw Bale rush at him at incredible speeds, the two blades spinning at him like buzz-saws. He quickly hopped out of the way as Bale collided with the wall. Zoro looked and saw Bale standing there, unharmed, but the wall he hit took massive damage and looked to be on the verge of collapse.

"I come from Pike's Point—a mountainous island on the Grand Line," Bale said. "There, all the warriors learn how to wield a claymore with one hand, when the average person needs two. This is the technique that made me First Mate, and this is the technique that will end your life!"

He was suddenly above Zoro with both his claymores pointing downward. "Technique of the Mountains: Forward Locust Drop!"

Zoro was able to roll out of the way, but Bale's blades still pierced the ground, surprisingly not creating many cracks around the buried blades. Unfortunately for Zoro, Bale was not done, as he let out a massive grunt and brought his swords up, taking chunks of the floor with it, still connected to his swords.

"Technique of the Mountains: Forward Locust Hammer!" he said, rushing at Zoro and bringing his swords down.

Zoro was once again able to leap out of the way. This time, however, he was prepared, as he was able to leap high at Bale's side and said, "No Sword Style: Dragon Twister!"

With that, he launched both of his powerful legs towards Bale's body in a massive flurry, connecting to his chest and sending him flying through the air and smashing against the wall with a dull thud. Bale slumped down slightly, but quickly regained consciousness and was on his feet; rage was stamped on his face.

Zoro looked at Bale with amusement and remarked, "So I ask again, why are you the First Mate?"

_"Don't fuck with me!"_ Bale roared, rushing towards Zoro, forgetting all techniques now.

He swung his claymores wildly at Zoro, attempting to connect. Unfortunately, Zoro was too quick on his feet as he neatly dodged all of the blows. He was able to kick Bale's outstretched hands, knocking the claymore from it, leaving him with only one. Blinded with fury, Bale gripped his remaining blade with both hands, raising it high over his head.

"Technique of the Mountains: Forward Locust Strike!"

Unfortunately for him, Zoro had expected this, as he was able to quickly turn around and hold his arms out while leaping away. Bale was already in mid-strike when this happened, and he couldn't stop now; his claymore brought itself down on Zoro's handcuffs, breaking them apart quite easily.

Zoro smiled as he looked at his free hands for a second, before running towards the other side of the room where his swords lay; Bale took this time to pick up his fallen claymore. When Zoro emerged, he had all three blades ready and pointed to Bale.

"Time to show you how a real swordsman fights," he said.

Bale began to swing his swords around in front of him again and said in a surprisingly calm voice, "Fine, let's do it…Pirate Hunter!"

With that, they both rushed at each other.

"Technique of the Mountains: Forward Locust Rush!"

"Three Sword Style: Streaming Wolf Swords!"

Both techniques ended with them on the other side of where they originally started. Things were quiet for a moment, before a few slashes appeared on Zoro's chest, but both of Bale's claymores cracked, and before he could even scream, a massive amount of sword wounds opened on his chest, letting out a fountain of blood.

He dropped his swords and fell to the ground wordlessly, knocked out cold.

Zoro sheathed his two swords and said, "You have potential, but you're still too early to challenge me, with swords or without."

— — —

Nami, Camie, Kalyn, Hachi, and Pappug rushed down the hallways of Kalyn's building, hoping not to run into any pirates. Fortunately, for the time being, they weren't. Farraday didn't have the insight to handcuff any of them, regarding the group as "weak" and "not a threat." Farraday thought watching them would suffice, but unfortunately for him, it didn't.

He did take Nami's Perfect Clima-Tact, however, and when the chaos started, she was able to take it back before leaving, so the group wasn't totally defenseless, but they still thought it would be better if they didn't run into anyone.

The rumbling of the volcano started then.

They all stopped and looked around at each other. "What's going on?" Nami asked.

"It's either an earthquake or…" Kalyn said, trailing off. "No, it couldn't be that; it must be an undersea quake. It'll go away soon."

With a shrug, they all brushed it aside and continued running. They were on the second floor now, and as soon as they were halfway down the stairs to the first, they ran into Sogeking. They all looked surprised, before Nami noticed who it was.

"Usopp!" she said excitedly.

"Shh! I don't know who Usopp is! I am Sogeking, defender of the defenseless!"

"Whatever," she said. "Why are you going _into _the building?"

"I'm here to try and find the key to Luffy's handcuffs," he answered. "If he doesn't get it soon, Farraday will get a hold of him again. I believe it's somewhere in the Princess's office."

"I see," Nami said. "Well, Zoro's fighting with someone in there now," Nami said, "so I don't think it's the safest place to be. We have to go and find help before we can do anything."

"Help's already here," responded Sogeking. "And even though Luffy is getting help now, he still needs access to his powers."

"I guess you're right," Nami said. "Well, good luck Usopp, we're going to go down to safety!"

"Oh no you don't!" insisted Usopp. "You're going to help me find the key."

"Are you crazy?" Nami exclaimed. "There's two guys fighting in that room, it's much safer downstairs."

"Trust me," Usopp remarked, thinking of the battle going on down there. "It's not!"

Nami sighed and looked to the rest of the group.

"We should help Luffy," Camie said. "After all, he did save us."

"We owe him our gratitude," Kalyn said. "The least we can do is find the key for him."

"We can't let Luffy die!" Hachi exclaimed.

"And the sooner he ends this, the better," Pappug said.

Nami put her hand to her forehead and shook it. After a few seconds, she said, "Fine, let's go!"

The tremors continued to shake the foundation…

When they finally went back to the room, they saw Zoro sitting there, using cloth to bind his wounds. They looked to see an unconscious Bale next to two broken claymores. Zoro looked at them surprised and asked, "What are you guys doing here?"

"The key to Luffy's cuffs is somewhere in this room," Sogeking explained.

"How do you know that Usopp?" Zoro asked.

"I'm _Sogeking_, not Usopp!" he said indignantly. "I know because that's what Farraday said himself; the fool brags too much for his own good."

"Alright," Zoro said. "It should be around here somewhere, so let's start looking."

With that, they all spread around the room and began to search.

— — —

"Gum-Gum Spear!"

Luffy shot both legs at Farraday, who was able to easily dodge them. As soon as Luffy landed, Farraday was right in front of him. Before Luffy could react, Farraday was on him with a flurry of punches to his chest and awe-inspiring speeds.

"Quick Barrage!" he yelled, knocking Luffy back several feet.

Despite not having a rubber body anymore, Luffy had strong endurance, and was able to take all of Farraday's attacks quite well. Not being discouraged, Luffy ran towards Farraday again, preparing to strike.

"Gum-Gum Stamp!" he yelled, leaping in the air and kicking towards Farraday.

He was able to side-step it easily, and laughed at Luffy. "I don't even need my high-speed techniques to go against you Straw Hat!"

Much to his surprise, however, right after the blow didn't connect, Luffy was able to change his direction in mid-air and face the unprepared Farraday again. "Gum-Gum Stamp Gatling!" he yelled, kicking multiple times, each of them connecting to the unfortunate Farraday.

He spat blood out of his mouth as he slid back several feet and dropping to his knees. He was able to get up quickly and said, "Even without your powers you're dangerous; now I see why you have 300 million berries on your head."

"Stop talking and let's fight!" Luffy said. "I've been waiting to kick your ass for a while now."

"Fwewewewewe! Only a fool would fight you at close-combat," he mocked. He reached into his satchel and pulled out a large handful of metal nails. He tossed them up and down in his hand as he said, "I, on the other hand, can fight you from a long-distance."

With that, he threw all of the nails towards Luffy, yelling, "Quick Darts!"

Luffy saw the speed that they were coming at and saw it dangerous. He quickly ran towards the side, letting the nails hit and stay in the building wall, causing small cracks around them when they connected. Luffy sighed, but he looked and saw Farraday in front of him, a grin present on his face.

"Of course, I could always fight you close-range when you're caught of guard," he smirked. "Quick Barrage!"

He pelted Luffy again with his flurry of strikes, sending him falling to his back with blood coming out of his face.

"Fwewewewewewewe!" Farraday laughed. "I had to promise to bring you in unharmed, but it looks like I'm going to have to break that promise. Oh well, as long as you're ali—"

Farraday was cut off as the earth began to rumble.

"The hell is this?" he asked. "Ah, fuck, don't tell me…"

"Earthquake?" a groggy Luffy asked, getting to his feet.

"That would be the optimistic answer, the pessimistic one would be…" he started. "It doesn't matter. All this means is that I'm going to have to take care of you faster!"

"Just try it!" Luffy said, rushing towards Farraday again.

Before Farraday could hit him, Luffy leapt into the air and brought his foot up high. "Gum-Gum Battle Axe!"

He brought it down, but he only collided with earth, as Farraday was able to appear behind him. Smiling, he held a bullet between his thumb and index finger. "Quick Shot!" he said, flicking the bullet at Luffy.

The bullet hit his shoulder, and, since he no longer had a rubber body, it went through him, causing blood to shoot out and for him to scream in pain.

He fell to the floor as Farraday stomped on his chest. "Face it Straw Hat," he bragged. "Without the powers of your devil fruit, you're just a small-time pirate. I don't even know why Victor wants you…"

"Victor?" Luffy repeated, catching it. "Did you just say Victor?"

Farraday realized his mistake as he covered his mouth.

"Did Victor hire you to capture me?" Luffy persisted. "Answer me god dammit!"

Farraday's only response was a kick to Luffy's face. "It's none of your fucking business," he said, stepping on Luffy's chest harder. "If you really wanna know badly, just come with me and—"

"Mouton Mallet!"

Farraday was cut off as a powerful foot collided with the side of his face, sending him flying off of Luffy and landing on the hard ground several feet away.

"That's our Captain you're messing with, Crap-Pirate," Sanji said, standing right by the fallen Luffy.

"Sanji…" Luffy said in a daze, looking up at the cook.

"You dare to stri—" Farraday started.

He was cut off again as Hancock appeared in the battle, doing an acrobatic front flip and kicking the unsuspecting Farraday in his chest, sending him back yet again. He landed on his back with a dull thud and a grunt of pain.

"How dare someone like you attack Luffy!" Hancock said, looking down on Farraday so much she was looking up.

"Hancock…"

Farraday was on his feet again, blood streaming down his face. "You got me by surprise, but I assure you it won't happen again," he said. "And I hope you know you all just signed your death wish by attacking me."

"You guys, be careful, he—" Luffy started.

Sanji cut him off by bringing his arm out, signaling for him to stop. "You just sit tight Captain; we'll take care of this guy for you."

Farraday simply stared at both of his new enemies with determination in his eyes.

* * *

Saved!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	37. Eruption of Fate

Sanji and Hancock save Luffy from Farraday, but do they stand a chance? Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**37: Eruption of Fate**

Russell Farraday wasted no time, as he immediately leapt into the air at incredible heights. "Quick Hop!" he said, flying towards the group in the air. "Straw Hat is mine!"

Sanji countered this by leaping up in the air with heights matching Farraday's. He shot both of his legs out as they got close. "Extra Haché!" Sanji said, sending his legs towards Farraday in a barrage of kicks.

Farraday countered this by sending a barrage of punches. "Quick Barrage!"

Both attacks struck and neutralized each other, sending them both flying back into the air; both of them landed on their feet.

The rumbling from the volcano continued, getting more and more violent.

As soon as Farraday landed, Hancock was on him, flying high and preparing to kick. "You really are a beauty…" Farraday remarked. "It's a shame we have to fight like this."

"Silence fool! You have no right to look upon me with such eyes!" she said, aiming at Farraday's neck.

Unfortunately for her, Farraday was ready as he quickly shot his hand out and grabbed Hancock's leg. Gripping it tightly, he swung her to his side, sending her flying into the wall.

"How dare you attack a woman like that!" Sanji yelled, rushing towards Farraday. He leapt towards Farraday and aimed for his forehead, saying, "Escalope!"

"Quick Dodge!" Farraday said, quickly side-stepping Sanji's attack and appearing at his side.

"You…" Sanji said, flying right past him. "How…"

"My muscles have the power to respond to any situation," he said, "and that also means I can use it to strike faster." Not wasting any more time, he shot his leg at Sanji's side, saying, "Quick Kick!"

The blow connected to Sanji's ribs, and sent him flying towards the wall, hitting it with a crash. "Sanji! Hancock!" Luffy yelled, struggling to get up.

"Shut up!" Farraday yelled to him. "I'll take care of you once I clean up the trash!"

Unfortunately for him, both Sanji and Hancock were back on their feet and rushed towards Farraday on opposite sides. He saw this coming and said, "Quick Hop!" leaping into the air to get away.

"Hancock, lend me a hand will ya?" Sanji pleaded.

Hancock sighed and nodded as she held out her leg, letting Sanji leap on it. He winked at her and said, "Thanks beautiful."

"You may not call me that!" she yelled, using her leg to throw Sanji into the air towards Farraday. "Only one man can call me that!"

Sanji ignored her as he swung his leg upward, heating it to such a degree that his leg turned red. "Diable Jambe!"

"Fool!" Farraday bragged. "You're easy prey for me in the air! Quick Barrage!"

Sanji took the full force of the blow, but unfortunately for Farraday, he was still able to keep going, closer to Farraday now than ever.

"Shit! Too late to dodge now!" he said.

Sanji was ready, however, as he yelled, "Flambage Shot!"

Sanji's flaming foot collided head-on with Farraday's head, causing blood to shoot out of his face and the force of it sending him down to the ground with a slam. Sanji smiled as Hancock, not caring about the outcome, rushed over to Luffy.

"Luffy, how are you feeling?" she demanded. "If you were to die, I don't know what I would do."

"Hancock…" Luffy said. Then, his eyes widened as he said, "Look out!"

Hancock turned around just in time to see Farraday standing there, blood streaming down all his face with anger clearly stamped on it, lashing out and striking Hancock with a quick smash to her stomach, winding her and sending her to clutch it in pain.

Not wasting any time, Farraday brought his leg down on her exposed back with unbelievable speeds, sending her crashing to the floor with a thud.

"You bastard!" Sanji yelled, now on the floor and rushing towards him.

Farraday looked back, clearly not amused, as he disappeared right before Sanji hit him and reappeared behind him, dealing him a massive kick to the back of his head, sending Sanji flying and crashing into the wall, where he fell and stayed.

The tremors got more and more violent…

"You son of a—" Luffy started, but was cut off by a massive stomp to his stomach.

"You wanted to know if Victor hired me?" he asked, not in a bragging voice, but in a forceful and slightly-angered voice. "Well the answer is yes. He knew that you and your crew were gonna have to come to Fishman Island—every pirate wanting to go to the New World has to—and he happened to get in contact with me, knowing me for my expertise in such matters, saying that if I was able to bring you to him, he would take me into his crew, as well as…well, you don't need to know that."

Luffy stared at him intently, knowing the weight of his words.

"So excuse me if I get a _little pissed off_ when people try to interrupt me while I'm trying to finish my job!" he nearly yelled. He gripped Luffy by his shirt collar and said, "Now come on, we're leaving this damn island so I can get my reward!"

"108 Pound Cannon!"

A strike of compress air hit Farraday right in his side, causing him to spit up blood and drop Luffy. He in the direction, to see Zoro on the ground, rushing towards him with his swords ready.

"Oni…"

"Quick Dodge!"

"…Giri!"

Zoro's blow didn't connect as Farraday appeared at the side of him and said, "Quick Barrage!"

His attack connected to Zoro, sending him reeling in pain and dropping to one knee. He was able to get back up, but not before kicking Zoro in his chest, sending him dropping to the ground; Sogeking, still in the building looking out the window, aimed Kabuto at Farraday and said:

"Sunflower Star!"

Five explosive pellets erupted around Farraday, as he shielded himself from it, letting his guard down.

"Luffy!" Nami yelled down to her captain as she hopped from the window to the ground. "We got the key! He didn't hide it well at all; he kept it in a secret compartment under the desk the Mermaid Princess knew about."

She waved the key to him and ran over to take off the seastone cuffs. Farraday, however, wouldn't stand for this as he starting rushing towards her yelling, "You will not uncuff him!"

Fortunately for Nami, Zoro intercepted him and swung his sword at him. "Crab Grab!" he said, striking Farraday's chest, sending blood flying out and causing him to grunt in a mix of anger and pain.

Farraday quickly responded by head-butting Zoro to the ground, and quickly sped towards Nami. Sogeking, however, was ready, as he shot three pellets yelling, "Special Oil Star!"

Farraday was too angry to notice, and unfortunately fell prey to the attack once again, as he slipped and landed hard on his back. Nami was at Luffy during this time as he just looked at Nami and said, "Help Sanji and Hancock…please…"

"Don't worry, we will," she said, fiddling with his handcuffs. "As soon as you kick this guy's ass for us!"

Farraday was back on his feet and, forgetting about Zoro and Usopp, rushing towards the helpless Nami. He sped towards her, she pulled out her Perfect Clima-Tact, and prepared to defend herself. This wasn't necessary, however, as Luffy went right between them and yelled:

"Gum-Gum Pistol!"

This time, his arm stretched and he struck the unprepared Farraday dead on in the stomach, causing him to grunt in pain, but he still held his ground. He looked up at Luffy through his bloodied vision and barked, "You got free? I guess I'm going to have to go through the trouble of capturing you all again!"

"Not this time," Luffy said with a smirk.

"Fwewewewewe! Look around you Straw Hat! All of your crewmates have fallen prey to my devil fruit, and you will be no different!"

"Maybe now," he said, white smoke starting to emanate from him. "But not when I'm on the same level as you!"

"What do you—"

"Gear Second!"

Luffy disappeared quite suddenly and appeared behind Farraday. He turned around to see Luffy standing there, his fist poised to attack. "Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!" he said, striking Farraday's chest with a massive amount of force, sending him flying towards the wall and hitting it with a massive crash.

He got up quickly, knowing the danger of staying down long, and used his Quick-Quick powers to move towards Luffy. Much to his surprise, Luffy moved at the same speed as him, and was actually able to get the bead on him with his attack.

"Gum-Gum Jet Whip!"

Luffy's outstretched leg collided with Farraday's stomach, causing him to hold it in pain. He quickly hopped back and pulled out a handful of bullets from his satchel. "Quick Shots!" he yelled, throwing them all at Luffy.

The Straw Hat Captain, however, was able to dodge and appear at Farraday's side. "Gum-Gum Twin Jet Pistols!"

"Quick Barrage!"

Both attacks hit head on, and the force of them sent both enemies flying back. For Farraday, however, the fighting had taken its toll, and he wasn't able to recover as quickly as Luffy, who was immediately on his feet again and rushing towards Farraday at speed that rivaled his own.

Farraday was barely up when Luffy was already on him with his next attack. "Gum-Gum Jet Bullet!"

His fist collided with Farraday's face faster than he could have dodged, sending him sprawling to the ground in a pool of blood. His groans could be heard, but for now, he stood still.

The smoke stopped swirling around Luffy as he went back to normal. He looked at everyone on the ground and in the building and raised his hands in triumph.

Despite the victory, the tremors got progressively worse, almost bad enough that it seemed like the island would capsize and the bubbles would pop.

"Good job Luffy!" Sogeking praised from the window, Camie, Kalyn, Hachi, and Pappug standing next to him. "You were able to finally beat the bastard!"

To everyone's shock, Farraday was up on his feet again. He was breathing heavy and blood covered his entire body, but he was still conscious. Not gracing anyone with words, he simply looked up at the window and saw the group. Usopp visibly gulped when he saw the gaze, and instinctually brought his Kabuto up.

Before Luffy could say anything, Farraday had disappeared and reappeared right by the building. He looked up and began sprinting. "Quick Climb!"

Surprisingly, he was going so fast he could run up the side of the building, and before long, he was up through the broken window, giving everyone there a fright. Sogeking attempted to attack, but the humorless Farraday didn't even regard him, as he dealt him a quick smash to his face, sending him flying to the wall.

Without saying anything, he picked Camie up and threw her over his shoulders. He then appeared on the ground below, towards the corner as if to leave the battlefield.

"I don't know what you just did Straw Hat," he said through the blood, "but if you ever want to see the Mermaid Princess alive again, I suggest you come to my ship without the intent to kill. There, I'll have a new pair of seastone cuffs waiting for you and we can be on our merry way. If you don't comply…well I guess this island will have one less princess, eh?"

_"Luffy, help!"_ Camie yelled from Farraday's shoulder.

"Wait!" Luffy said, reaching a hand out, but Farraday was already gone.

Giving caution to the wind, Luffy went to chase after the Breakneck Captain.

— — —

It was clear to Jimbei that they were winning the fight. The pirates clearly lacked any will to attack without a solid leader, and their resolve stood no match against the strengthened resolve of the former captives. The fight no longer worried Jimbei.

What did worry him, however, were the continuing tremors from Arashi's Point.

"The volcano could erupt at any time," he said with a grimace. "And sensing the force of these tremors, it's gonna be a big one, and that's always bad!"

He mindlessly swatted aside a pirate attempting to attack him, and looked out towards the ocean. Surprisingly, he saw what he thought was Farraday carrying someone on his shoulders. Even more surprising than this, though, was that he saw Luffy chasing after him a few seconds after.

"Luffy!" Jimbei called out. "What are you doing? Luffy!"

The Captain was deaf to his cries, and unfortunately for Jimbei, he couldn't take time to figure out the mystery; there was still a battle going on, and they needed to win it.

The Breakneck Pirates were down, but not out.

— — —

"I'm telling you," Farraday repeated on the den-den mushi on his ship, "we ran into a few problems on the way, so I'm going to be later than usual!"

The voice on the other end spoke for a few seconds, before Farraday replied, "No, no, the mission isn't lost. As it turns out, I've got some leverage to trap him again, and then I'll be on my way, so do me a favor and stop worrying!"

"Fine," Victor said on the other line. "But remember, if you fail, there is no place for you in the crew, and you'll never see One Piece…"

"Dully noted," Farraday said, before putting the den-den mushi down on the table.

Farraday walked out onto the deck of his ship to see Camie there, one hand chained to the floor, struggling. "Stop it," he said, feigning a kick at her, causing her to flinch. "Once Straw Hat gets here, you'll be free to go, but only once I have him under control."

He looked out at the Arashi's Point as the tremors continued, commenting, "We better get out of here fast before the fucking thing erupts!"

While he was looking, Camie was able to pull out a bobby-pin from her hair without Farraday noticing. Camie smiled as she slowly went to work on the keyhole. _"Who would have thought Nami lock-picking that secret compartment and showing everyone how to do it_

_("alright, watch and pay attention, while it's nearly impossible to lock-pick seastone cuffs, regular locks are easy; you never know when this might save your life")_

_would pay off so soon…"_

At this point, Luffy sprinted his way over here, and looked at the ship. He yelled to the top of his lungs, _"FARRADAY!"_

Farraday gave a small chuckle at this as he said from his ship, "I'm here Straw Hat. Come on over here, and we'll discuss the terms of your…" He held up a pair of seastone cuffs, "…surrender."

_"Almost!" _Camie thought, as she struggled with the lock just a little bit. _"Got it!"_

She was able to free herself from the chain, and, since Farraday had his back turned to her, she was able to give him a thumbs up; Luffy nodded.

"I just came to let you know that that's not the real Mermaid Princess you have!" he yelled with a grin.

_("She's Princess Kalyn," Nami said quickly, pointing to Camie)_

"What?"

Farraday turned around to see Camie hopping off the side off the ship, out of the safety of the bubble, and into the ocean where she let out a laugh at Farraday before swimming away. He stared at her with anger, yelling, "NO!"

"Oh, and…" Luffy said, bring his right thumb up to his mouth. "I came here to kick your ass as well!"

With that, Luffy bit down hard on his thumb and blew deep into it. "Gear Third!" he yelled, growing his right fist to a massive size.

"What the fuck is that…" Farraday said, too stunned to move.

Luffy cocked his massive fist back and yelled, "Gum-Gum Giant Pistol!"

He threw his massive fist towards Farraday's ship. He was able to see the danger in this as he was able to leap into the air quickly, but as soon as his fist made contact, Farraday's entire ship splintered and gave way, making a colossal hole, and ultimately collapsing it altogether.

The tremors got worse than ever, as buildings now began to shake and crumble.

Luffy couldn't let it end here, however, as he leapt into the air, even higher than Farraday, and expanded his right foot to a massive proportion. "Gum-Gum…" he started.

_"DAMN YOU STRAW HAT!"_

At that exact moment—as it by fate—Arashi's Point erupted, letting out a massive explosion of lava going into the ocean, and increasing the strength of the tremors so much that entire buildings collapsed in a second.

"…GIANT STAMP!" Luffy roared, bringing his foot down on the defenseless Farraday, sending him crashing to the ground with massive cracks around where he fell.

Luffy's foot grew to its regular size now, and as soon as Luffy landed, the volcano slowed its erupting and lava-flow to a small trickle down its sides. The lava it shot out floated harmlessly into the ocean, where it drifted upward and away from civilization; the tremors began to weaken as well, as there was a noticeable change.

Arashi's Point had erupted for a single moment, and after it was done, it drifted back to being dormant.

The volcano marked the end of the struggle on Fishman Island.

* * *

Fishman Island is saved from the terror of Farraday!

**Hey, I'm adding a new section to the story called "Behind the Character," where I essentially explain my thought process on creating my OCs after they're done in the story. Hope you enjoy the behind-the-scenes look. =D**

**Behind the Character (1): Russell Farraday**

As the main antagonist to the Fishman Island Arc, I like to feel I made him in true One Piece villain fashion. Conceptually, I honestly didn't have big plans for this character, more like he would be just a street thug in Fishman Island that Luffy would fight with for maybe a chapter before they left. In short, he was supposed to be a filler character with no real purpose. Then, however, it was pointed out to me by a close friend (who carefully reads over every one of my chapters) that making a filler wouldn't progress the story in any way, and I agreed, making Farraday into a full-blown six-chapter villain.

Design-wise, there's no real design, just my opinion of what a "stereotypical cruel and sadistic" pirate looks like. Personality-wise, there's no set model as well, but as stated earlier, I tried to make him like a true One Piece arc villain, giving him a trademark laugh (Fwewewewewewe!) and trademark quirk (Him bragging too much to give away too much information). Other than that, I would have to say that I just pictured him as a freelance money-loving pirate who would take any job as long as it paid well. I tried my best to show a range of emotions from comical to dead-serious, and I hope I was able to pull it off well.

As for his devil fruit, the Quick-Quick Fruit, well, to be honest, it's one I've always had stuck in the back of my mind and it was supposed to be on another character in this story (one of Victor's men) altogether. Regardless, the attacks were pretty basic, and I didn't put much into naming them, but just having him use it in a more passive way to aid his speed and attacks, which I think downplayed the fruits powers, but in a way, that _aided_ the story, focusing more on the character of Farraday rather than having him just be defined by his devil fruit.

All in all, I really enjoyed writing this character, and had a blast creating him as well.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	38. The Great Celebration of Fishman Island

Time to relax and celebrate. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**38: The Great Celebration of Fishman Island**

"Get back here now! This will help you feel better!" a fishman doctor had told Luffy, having to chase him around the room with a syringe in his hand.

"No way!" exclaimed Luffy, skillfully avoiding the doctor's movements. "I already told you, I got my rubber body back and I can recover easier now!"

"Your injuries are more severe than you think!" he yelled. "It is my duty as a doctor to make sure you have a speedy recovery!"

Luffy had already tuned the doctor out as he looked outside absent-mindedly and said, "I'm going to go find some meat."

With that, he hopped out of the window and landed on the street, leaving the fuming doctor alone with his syringe.

It had been three hours since Farraday's defeat, and already he had been shackled and taken into custody, with Jimbei personally leading the effort to capture every last Breakneck Pirate and hold them accountable for what they did.

Arashi's Point, the massive volcano, had quickly gone back to its dormant state. People speculated that it had accumulated a large amount of pressure over the years and it finally relieved it all with one massive explosion before returning to normal, but the generally accepted consensus was that it had to deal with fate, and a sign that the island would be taken back. Their main proof for this was that the lava the volcano exhumed missed every single bubble on Fishman Island, drifting away into relative obscurity.

Despite the troubles only happening a few hours earlier, the residents on Fishman Island seemed very eager to celebrate and return things to the way they were earlier. Of course, the Straw Hats—who were touted as the saviors of the island—happily accepted this proposal, taking their few remaining hours left on the island to celebrate.

While Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Hancock were checked into the hospital due to injuries received (although Hancock was kicked out due to her refusal to leave Luffy's side), Luffy was the only one who stayed there for more than an hour, leaving him itching to go and join his crew with the festivities, hence having him leave the doctors sooner than intended.

As soon as Luffy landed, he ran towards where the sounds were coming from. He eventually ended up at the town square in Bubble One, where the real celebration was going on. Everywhere he looked, he saw booths and tables and balloons, and all other manners of party paraphernalia. Giving a bit cheer, he followed his nose to the nearest place he smelled food.

He didn't have to travel far, and he ended up at a booth labeled "The Chef's Fancy," and, not even caring for lines, Luffy ran right to the front, pounded on the table, and said, "I want you to give me all the meat you got."

"Coming right up," the Chef said, turning around to see the customer.

To Luffy's surprise, it was Sanji. He was wearing chef's whites and a chef's hat, but he had gotten rid of his glasses and had a cigarette dangling from his mouth. Even with the new clothes, Luffy could see the bandages underneath, and Sanji had a large swath of white cotton put over his right cheek.

"Why are you out so early Luffy?" he asked with a smile on his face. "You were more wrecked than all of us put together."

He pointed to Luffy's heavy bandaging on his chest and Luffy simply smiled and replied, "It was boring, so I got out of there; this party seems much more interesting. Why are you stuck here cooking though?"

Sanji sighed and explained. "I was hoping to cash in on our victory by going to some of the local booths getting set up for the celebration and asking them for some of their recipes, but apparently, saving all of them wasn't enough, so I had to make a deal to cook for them in exchange for some of their recipes."

"That sucks," Luffy said bluntly. "Now where's my fo—"

"Excuse me," a mermaid said, coming to the front and cutting Luffy off. "But if I may have an order of scallops please."

Sanji's eyes turned into hearts as he said, "Of course my lady! I'll have it ready in a flash!"

Within two minutes, he presented her a plate of steaming scallops. She thanked him and paid him, leaving him to stare at her leaving. Luffy simply looked at Sanji angrily, and he was forced to explain himself.

"It's also a great way to meet a lot of young mermaids," he said. "Without, you know, seeming too strange."

Luffy still appeared angry, but when Sanji gave him a full plate of meat, his anger disappeared. He happily accepted it, took a bite, and said, "Thanks Sanji; I'm going to go around some more, hope you have fun."

"Cya," he said as Luffy walked away before tending to more customers.

Luffy walked all through the party, through the loud music, through all of the happy (and probably drunk) people. He even passed Usopp standing high on a pedestal and explaining why he was the hero who saved them all.

"And it was I, who heroically rescued the Straw Hats from their captivity by using my trust slingshot! Then I proceeded to beat Farraday with my own hands; of course he was no match for the great Captain Usopp, and before you knew it, he was begging for mercy!"

"Captain Usopp, he's so cool!" the crowd listening all said, believing his every word.

Luffy continued checking out several booths, playing a few games, talking to a few people, and even passing Zoro who was sitting at a table and partaking in his usual drinking game of "who can take the most alcohol at once," which he of course was winning.

Eventually, he bumped into Camie, Hachi, and Pappug, and they all looked overjoyed to see each other again. Hugs were exchanged, happy words were spoken, and a few tears even came out of Hachi and Pappug's eyes.

"We really want to thank you for saving Camie," Pappug said, wiping his eyes. "We don't know what we would have done if something happened to her."

"Don't mention it," Luffy grinned, turning to Camie. "That was a good job escaping from his ship; how'd you do that?"

Camie chuckled and said, "Nami showed us how to pick a lock; she even told us that hair pins are very effective."

"Where is Nami anyway?" Luffy asked, looking around.

"I think I saw her going around and accepting donations from drunken people," Hachi said with a laugh. "She's always trying to make a profit no matter what the situation."

"I guess so," Luffy laughed.

"Oh, that reminds me," Camie said. "The Mermaid Princess Kalyn wants you to go to her office so she can meet you personally."

"Really?" asked Luffy, tilting his head. "How come?"

"Probably to thank you for saving the island," Hachi sighed.

Luffy smiled and said, "All right! I'll go see her!"

After a few seconds, he turned to the group and asked, "Where is she again?"

"She's at the building you fought Farraday at," Pappug explained with a sigh.

"Oh, right!" exclaimed Luffy, scratching the back of his head. "Well, I'm going to go see her now, bye!"

With that, he sped off, leaving the group standing there alone.

"He sure is a strange one," Pappug remarked.

Camie laughed and said, "Strange, but likeable!"

— — —

For Princess Kalyn, there was no celebration.

Unfortunately, being the leader of an entire island had its drawbacks. For one, she was the one stuck with all of the paperwork after the invasion, and due to the damage the Breakneck Pirates caused, there was quite a lot of it.

Jimbei, the First Son of the Sea, however, decided not to celebrate as well, as he stayed in the Princess's office giving her his status report.

"We've successfully rounded up the majority of the pirates," he said. "There will be a few stragglers, but they're not strong enough to do anything alone, and they'll be found soon enough."

"I see," she said, taking a sip of tea and shifting through her papers.

"I also suggest that we turn the entire crew, including Farraday, over to the marines," he continued. "We can't hold them here forever."

"That Farraday had a bounty of 160 million berries did he not?" she asked.

"Yes."

Kalyn turned to Jimbei and beamed at him. "Well I'd say that's a 160 million going to help the island, wouldn't you say?"

"Very good your Majesty."

Kalyn took another sip of tea before saying, "I also have a suggestion."

"What would that be?" asked Jimbei.

"I think we've relied on Whitebeard's protection for too long," she said. "And since his untimely demise, we've been fortunate enough not to be attacked—until now obviously—and I think this should open our eyes a bit."

"What do you mean?"

Kalyn stood up and walked right towards Jimbei. "I'm saying that we need an organized defense group, ready to defend us against future attacks, and I want you to be the leader of such a group."

Jimbei looked at her a little surprised. "Me? Why?"

"Isn't it obvious," she stated. "You were able to successfully round up fishmen and inspire them to fight back. It was thanks to you that we were saved, as well as Mr. Straw Hat."

"I don't know what to say…" Jimbei said, a little nervous.

"Just say yes," she smiled.

After a few seconds, Jimbei nodded and said, "I gladly accept your Majesty."

Kalyn put her hand on his shoulder. "Good!" She went back to her desk and continued, "Now for our next order of business…"

"HEYYYYYYYYY!"

Both Kalyn and Jimbei looked towards where the noise was coming from, and they suddenly saw Luffy shooting himself in through the broken window and flying through the room, before landing shakily on his feet in front of Kalyn's desk.

"Don't be so reckless you fool!" Jimbei scolded. "Do you know how dangerous that is? Especially in your condition and with the Princess in the room!"

Kalyn chuckled and waved her hand at Jimbei. "It's alright, it's alright. I'm glad you're here Mr. Straw Hat."

"It's Luffy, and Camie told me that you wanted to see me?"

"That's exactly right," she said. She stood up and went over to a bookshelf by the wall. "Both Camie and Hachi have told me that you're in pursuit of a man who's already in the New World, correct?"

"Yeah," he responded. "His name's Victor."

Kalyn nodded and continued ruffling through her bookshelf. "I see. Well, if he's already in the New World, there's no doubt that he might be several islands ahead of you, and it would be a shame if you had to go to all of those islands just to log your position."

Luffy nodded.

"Well, I got to thinking, and I've decided to help you out with that," she said, turning away from the bookshelf and walking towards Luffy.

She held her hand out and showed an eternal pose in her hands. "Ta-dah!"

Luffy took hold of it and simply asked, "Where does it lead to?"

"To the first major island in the New World," she explained. "See, as soon as you enter, there are all these small islands in the beginning, but this one takes you to the first important island, the Vespian Isles."

"Vespian?" Luffy repeated.

Kalyn nodded. "It's the island that has the most supplies for you to stock up on, and I'm willing to bet that this Victor is going there to re-supply and restock. With the eternal pose, however, you should be able to catch up to him much faster."

Luffy smiled broadly and said happily, "Thanks a lot Princess. You know, for a leader, you're really nice!"

"Consider it our thanks for saving the island," she said, matching his grin.

Luffy then looked at Jimbei and asked, "Do you wanna come with us?"

He shook his head and said, "I would love to help you, but unfortunately I can't. I have a duty to protect the people here, and I have to honor that. I do, however, wish you good luck with your journey."

"If that's the case," Luffy said, "then can I ask you to give the other half of my crew a message when they get here?"

Jimbei nodded. "What would that be?"

"It's that our next major island is on the Vespian Isles, and that hopefully we can meet up there!"

"We'll have an eternal pose prepared for them when they get here as well," Kalyn said.

Luffy nodded and thanked them. He then turned around towards the window and said, "Thanks guys! I'm going to go and rejoin the party again!"

He left, leaving Jimbei and Kalyn alone again. They both looked at each other, and, as if they both knew some terribly funny inside joke, they both laughed aloud, letting the laughter ring throughout the entire office.

— — —

It had been a little over ten hours since the Straw Hats first landed on Fishman Island (reaching the late night hours), and now it was time for them to go again (they could have gone earlier with the eternal pose, but in the midst of the party, Luffy forgot to give it to Nami, who was the only one who remembered that fact). The entire crew was aboard the _Thousand Sunny_ minus Hachi, Camie, and Pappug, who had decided to stay behind on the island, and the townspeople went to send them off.

Sanji hung out on the railing and sighed. "I wish we could have enjoyed ourselves a little longer; I would have loved to meet some more mermaids."

"Get over it," Zoro said, leaning against the wall. "You can swoon over women any day."

Sanji looked as if he was about to attack Zoro, but Nami intervened and said, "Zoro's right; we don't have time to enjoy ourselves. Not when we're trying to catch up with Victor." She took out the eternal pose Luffy had given here (after the party). "And this will certainly help us a lot. If only _someone _gave it to me sooner, we could have been gone by now." She looked at Luffy

Luffy then hopped on the deck and said, "Ah, it's not like we're that far behind, and besides, I wanted to enjoy the party a little more! Now come on, let's go; I bet more adventures await us in the New World."

"That's seems like a bad thing," Usopp said in a cowardly voice. "Dealing with Farraday was enough."

"But Victor hired Farraday, so we can't just let this slide," replied Zoro. "We're gonna catch the bastard and make him wish he never tried to attack us."

Hancock stood silently, just staring at Luffy, who was, in turn, looking out at the crowd. Finally, he yelled to them, "Thanks a lot for your hospitality, but we have to go now!"

The crowd all spoke up at once, yelling thanks to the crew, and they hoped they could see them again.

"We'll be back, don't worry!" Luffy said with a grin.

"So we can meet some more mermaids!" Sanji added before getting mocked by Zoro again.

Luffy looked at Camie, Hachi, Pappug, Jimbei, and Kalyn, who were in the crowd, and with one final wave, he turned towards Nami.

"Let's go!"

She nodded and the ship started to move again, sending them to leave Bubble One and bringing them back to their own personal bubble which surrounded their ship. They gave one final pass by Arashi's Point, and they all looked at it and thought the same thing. Then, they didn't look back anymore and only thought ahead.

Thought of what would await them in the New World.

— — —

While Colossal Battleship San Juan Wolf was swimming, bringing everyone on his back with him, Victor sat brooding in his own personal captain's room, sitting in a chair with his arms set across his chest; Tobias was the only one in the room with him.

"He's failed," Victor finally said, sparking Tobias's interest.

"Hmm?"

"Farraday," explained Victor. "He failed to capture Straw Hat."

"How can you be certain?"

"That idiot forgot to hang up his den-den mushi after he spoke to me," Victor replied.

_("Dully noted," Farraday said, before putting the den-den mushi down on the table)_

"And while I could only hear mumbles and unclear words, after a massive crash the den-den mushi went out. Now while it doesn't say for certain, I think we should operate under the assumption that he failed to complete his mission."

Tobias remained quiet for a second, before asking, "So what should we do then?"

Silence reigned for a minute or so, before Victor finally spoke.

"Gather the Corps of Kings and bring them here."

* * *

Enemies still loom on the horizon...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	39. Internal Politics

After the Fishman Island fiasco, the Corps of Kings gathers. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**39: Internal Politics**

Having San Juan Wolf as a battleship had its own unique advantages.

Firstly, since he was the largest recorded man in history (even by the Marines own admission), the size of the battleship one could put on his back would be enormous. The deck currently on his back (given to him by Blackbeard, but since taken over by Victor) was massive enough to fit Victor's entire crew (which consisted of at least 100 men).

Secondly, it was much easier to navigate and steer. Unlike a normal ship, it requires a skilled helmsman and navigator, but using Wolf, only a navigator is necessary to shout to him where to go. This makes stupid mistakes less common, and ultimately a better trip (only if the navigator knows what they're doing, however).

Having Wolf as a battleship, however, does have its own disadvantages.

While having someone like Wolf—who is, for lack of a better word, pretty stupid—controlling where the ship goes, he constantly needs to be watched 24/7 to make sure he's going the right way and doesn't get lost.

Another problem is that unlike a ship made out of wood, Wolf can feel pain. The bright side to this is that Wolf is able to take a massive amount of punishment due to his size, and is usually fine unless he accidentally ventured into the calm belt.

The worst problem, however, is that even Wolf gets tired after paddling for too long of a time. Even though giants have better stamina than most, they are not immune to the feelings of fatigue. For Wolf's case, he is able to paddle the entire day without break (except when he is fed and given water, a laborious task in its own right), but as soon as night falls, his energy is depleted and he needs time to rest.

Due to this handicap, the entire crew has to stop every night so Wolf can get a good nights rest. Victor usually finds this to be okay, as it gives him and his entire crew a much needed break, so that the next day they are ready to work.

It was on one particular night, however, while Wolf was sleeping on a small stretch of land somewhere between the third and fourth New World island (face-down so he doesn't crush the ship on his back) that Victor demanded to see the Corps of Kings in his personal quarters.

Tobias obediently gathered everyone in the Corps and within ten minutes, they were all in his room, sitting down at the rectangular table in his room. Among the meeting was Tobias the Dreamer, Vendrix the Disillusioned, Aliyyah the Typhoon, Benjamin McAllister, Kaede, Kenji, Daron the Marauder, William Helmont, Basco Shot, Catarina Devon, Abalo Pizarro, and Shiryu of the Rain, all waiting as Victor sat down at the head of the table. The candlelight at the table reflected off of his face, showing the details of his features. He had a look of calm, as he rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

"It's good to see the Corps of Kings in its fullest form," he said. "To see such promising talent and skill all in one place truly warms my heart and makes me feel confident that our ends will be reached."

"You cut out my nap just to say that?" asked a sleepy Daron.

"Of course not," Victor replied. "Indeed, I called all of you together in one place because we have some very important business to discuss."

"We?" asked William. "Don't you usually call all the shots?"

Victor smiled at the man and said, "Yes William, I usually do. However, I didn't call you here to make decisions, as much as bring you all up to speed on what's going to be going on."

"It's about time," Abalo said defiantly. "We've been apart of your crew for a while now and we're still not sure what your goals are. At least with Blackbeard, his goal was evident—to find One Piece and become King of the Pirates."

Victor gave a small laugh at this that went on for some time. When it died down, he looked around the table and said, "Excuse me, I didn't mean to be rude. You're absolutely right Abalo, and it's time I let my goal become clear for all of you now, so we can avoid any future…misunderstandings."

He paused for a second before continuing, prompting everyone to listen closely.

"Like Mr. Marshall D. Teach, our ultimate goal remains the same…to find the legendary One Piece. However, unlike Mr. Teach, I have no interest in becoming King of the Pirates. Indeed, my reason for reaching One Piece is much different than his."

"Which would be?" Devon asked.

Silence reigned for a few seconds. Victor eventually said, "You'll find out in due time, I assure you that."

"So what exactly did you call us in here for then?" asked a slightly angry Kaede, slamming his fist down at the table.

"Kaede," Tobias cut in. "This isn't the time nor the place for—"

"It's alright," cut off Victor. "I understand your anger Kaede, and allow me to correct myself now by telling you, but first—if you don't mind—I would like to fill in our newest members on some back-story first."

He pointed to Devon, Pizarro, Shiryu, and Basco; Kaede remained silent and simply nodded.

"Very good then." He turned to the group and said, "Now, if you were or weren't aware, there's this fellow by the name of Straw Hat Luffy. I believe you might have seen him at Marineford, but then again maybe not. Allow me to fill you in; he is a semi-rookie pirate with a bounty of 300 million on his head. He has defied the World Government multiple times, and shows no sign of stopping."

"300 million?" laughed Basco. "Sounds like some kid!"

"Indeed," Victor continued. "Anyways, due to his reputation, he was on my list of 'Devil Fruit Users to Capture'—for lack of better words—and in short, I personally failed to capture him, due to shall we say…inconvenient circumstances."

"You mean you got your ass kicked," Shiryu rudely said.

"Not quite," a calm Victor responded, "but I guess it's along those lines. Anyways, I had to improvise and come up with a plan in order to capture Luffy, without exhausting my main force, i.e. you. So, I got in contact with a pirate-for-hire by the name of Russell Farraday—or as he would prefer to be called Breakneck Captain Russell Farraday the Speed Demon."

He paused for a second to catch his breath, as saying the last line quickly made him run out of it. After a few seconds, he continued.

"Seeing as how I knew Luffy would have to go to Fishman Island in order to get to the New World, I instructed Mr. Farraday to wait out there until he found out a lad with a straw hat was on the island. I said that if he was able to capture Luffy and bring him to me personally, I would allow him into the crew, and subsequently to One Piece. Well, I got a report in earlier than I expected."

"And?" asked Devon.

Victor paused for a second. "He failed."

"Kikikikiki!" Vendrix laughed. "I guess promising him all the world's riches just wasn't enough motivation for the bastard!"

"True," said Victor. "And it wasn't like Farraday was a light-weight either; he boasted a 160 million berry bounty and has numerous records on him in racketeering, slavery, ex cetera; I half-expected him to accomplish the mission, but I guess I was too optimistic. However, it's not his defeat that worries me, it's the time in which he did it; I got Farraday's response only a few hours ago."

"Time?" asked Kenji.

Victor nodded. "You see, I attacked Luffy around two days ago, and when I did it, there wasn't a single member of his crew with him. Now, due to the injuries I gave him, I can safely assume that he wouldn't be able to move for at least half a day. So that would give him time for some of his crew to be there, but certainly not _all _of them."

"What do you mean?" asked Benjamin.

Victor pointed to Aliyyah. "When I sent her to go and capture Scratchmen Apoo, she informed me that there was a skeleton with him. I quickly realized that this was Brook, a member of the Straw Hat Crew. Furthermore, she informed me that at the pace they were going, they wouldn't be able to reach Sabaody Archipelago for _at least_ a day and a half, and that's being kind, and seeing as how Farraday reported Luffy coming to Fishman Island not but this morning, I'm left to believe that Luffy departed with only a portion of his crew; Farraday himself told me he was attacked by a swordsman and a guy who kicks, so that seems to confirm it."

William shrugged. "So who cares?"

Victor turned to him and said, "Don't you understand? Luffy leaving with an incomplete crew means that he's rushed for something, and I'm willing to bet that it's coming after my ass for what I did to him."

Shiryu put out his cigar on the table. "So what? He's just one little brat."

"A brat who was able to break _into _Impel Down, and was also able to break out; I believe you know something about that."

Shiryu remained silent.

Victor sighed and slumped back in his chair. "Anyways, I just thought you should all know about this. With that kid coming after us with a vendetta, there's no way of knowing what kind of wrench he could throw in our plans; we have to get to the Vespian Isles faster than I originally planned, or he might be able to catch up to us."

"He won't be able to catch up to us if he has to log all the islands like us," stated Daron.

"And suppose he got an eternal pose from Fishman Island?" asked Victor. "It's not that far-fetched, especially if he wants to cover the lost ground. Either way, we need to get to the Vespian Isles as soon as possible."

"Why do we need to go there so badly?" inquired Pizarro. "What is so important about that place?"

Victor ran a hand through his hair and explained. "It's the island where the next phase in the plan comes into action."

There was silence, until Devon asked, "And what would that be?"

Victor shook the question off quickly. "I'll explain it in full-detail when the time comes; I will have to, especially when talking to that man."

"Who's that?" inquired Aliyyah.

Victor's face seemed to show surprise, as he said, "Oh, that's right! I haven't even told you guys about this yet. I got some new developments involving this island, and more importantly, who's on it."

"Just tell us who the fuck it is!" said an impatient Vendrix. "There's no need to build up the suspense like this!"

Victor gave a little laugh at this and said, "Very well. I'm sure you've all heard of him, but the man currently occupying the Vespian Isles would be Mr. Razeden, or as you all probably know him by, Kaido."

Silence descended upon the room like a ton of bricks.

"What the hell is a Yonko doing there?" demanded Kaede.

Victor shrugged. "Who knows; Yonko's like to do as they please. All I know is that he's there, and he's not really showing any signs of leaving."

Conversation instantly broke among the group, until Tobias called for order.

"This is not a bad thing, I assure you," Victor said. "In fact, it could easily work in our favor…if I say the right things."

Vendrix gave a laugh at this. "Victor, you can charm a rattlesnake into sainthood if you really tried. So I think you got no problems there."

Victor grinned at this and said, "Indeed, but now I need to go about it the right way. Anyways, that is the status update that I thought you should all know about. Luffy is most likely chasing after us, and we're going to have to meet Kaido. All-in-all, I'd say we're doing splendidly."

No one laughed at this, and Victor finally said, "You're all dismissed."

They all got up and eventually shuffled out of his room, leaving only Tobias left. He stood there silently as Victor got up and looked out his window. He whispered something that Tobias thought sounded familiar.

"What was that?"

Victor turned to him and smiled. "Nothing; don't worry about it. You're dismissed as well. And let everyone know that we're to wake up Wolf at the crack of dawn and I want his pace to be doubled so we get to our destination faster."

Tobias nodded his head. "Of course."

When Tobias left, Victor looked around his room for a few seconds, and then decided he needed some sleep himself; a little rest was good for him. Gathering his things, Victor stepped out on the deck to sleep under the stars.

That night, he had feverish dreams that made him shiver and sweat. When he woke up the next morning, however, he hardly remembered them at all.

* * *

Off to meet a Yonko...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	40. Search and Deploy

Back on the island of Blackbeard's capture...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**40: Search and Deploy**

On the small island of Raspia—the second island in the New World—in "The Lucky Boot" tavern

_("why the hell they named it that I'll never know…" she said)_

Trafalgar Law, Jewelry Bonney, and Sir Crocodile sat together at a table and began to drink whatever alcohol pleased them. Surrounding them were members of both the Heart and Bonney Pirates (the most obvious among the crowd being Jean Bart and Bepo), making sure no one was able to approach them. Fortunately, Crocodile had the intelligence to tell them to break up in groups and go to separate tables so they didn't attract attention to themselves.

Bonney herself was starving and began to order up a storm, asking for everything on the menu and offering to share only a little with her two companions. When the first of the food began to arrive, she immediately started chowing down what was in front of her. Law who sat to her left put the side of his head on his hand and looked slightly annoyed.

"I hope you don't expect us to pay for your food that you will barely share," he said in a lackluster voice.

Bonney took a bite out of her pizza and said, "Who do you think I am? I'm not some freeloader who lets other people pay; I have enough money for myself, and if you're so hungry, order some food yourself."

Both Law and Crocodile took her advice and ordered some food, both being hungry for something other than the meager rations on Law's submarine _Heartless_.

Traveling for them had turned out surprisingly well so far. They were able to use Law's coated submarine to get to Fishman Island without a problem. They spent ten hours there getting supplies, and leaving without a problem. They had no idea, however, of the problems the island and the Straw Hat Crew would go through not a few hours later.

Lacking an eternal pose to anywhere, they had to log every island. The first island was relatively quick, and then they were able to land on Raspia, where it took fifteen hours (notably longer than the previous island) to log the island. They used the opportunity to see the island, and eventually land at "The Lucky Boot."

Perhaps most surprising to Law and Bonney, however, was Crocodile's seeming civility. He hasn't betrayed them (so far) or left with another crew when the time had come. He was relatively polite (although sometimes he let minor insults slip), and seemed to genuinely be committed to sticking to his word with them.

_"Something in Impel Down must have changed him," Law speculated to Bonney when Crocodile was out of earshot._ _"I don't know what, but I do know that the Crocodile of the past wouldn't be like this."_

_"Hard to believe a place like Impel Down can make some better," chuckled Bonney,_ _"but I guess for someone as hardnosed as Crocodile, it did him some good…"_

While more speculation went on with the crew about why Crocodile was fine with traveling with them, Jean Bart overheard and was able to put it so that it made sense to everybody, and was able to put the speculation to rest (at least for now).

_"He cares about finding this Daz Bones guy," he had said, "or at least finding the guys who captured him, and he figures we're his best shot at finding him. That's all."_

_"Makes sense," Bepo had said, rubbing his chin._

Regardless of why he was doing it, Crocodile kept up his end of the bargain and explained to them all who was behind the mysterious capturing of the Eleven Supernovas.

_"As far as I can tell," he told Law and Bonney while chomping on his cigar,_ _"it's all been carefully orchestrated by one man with a bunch of powerful guys at his disposal. Why he's doing it, that's something I'm not sure on yet; for all I know he could be a bounty hunter or something, but I've heard rumors that he's able to steal devil fruit powers and use them himself."_

_"But who is it?" demanded Bonney._

_Crocodile took a puff on his cigar before answering_, _"All the sources lead to one guy…a guy by the name of Victor D. Capere. He doesn't have any bounty or record, and it's almost like he never existed at all; that's what makes it scary. It's like he's been waiting for this opportunity to strike, and he's doing it with a scary amount of efficiency."_

_Both of them nodded, trying to take in everything Crocodile was saying._

_"Anyways, I heard that his next destination was the Vespian Isles for some kinda big thing, so that's where we're heading…that is, if you want to find out why he's been capturing so many of your fellow Supernovas."_

_They both nodded; Crocodile put out his cigar._

_"Anyways, the Vespian Isles are the fifth island in the New World, and the first major one where people restock; the first four are small fry like the one we were just on and the one we're going to, Raspia."_

"Hey, get me some more food! I paid for it and I expect the service to be top-notch!" Bonney yelled, shoveling more food down as she said it.

Then, the proprietor of "The Lucky Boot" came to the three and said, "Pardon me, but I assure you the cooks are working as fast as they can, and we will get it out as soon as possible."

Bonney threw away a chicken bone and said, "I'm paying you good money for this, so the food coming out better be phenomenal."

"Don't worry about her," Law said to the owner, "she is just like that. By the way, the food I've gotten is quite good."

The man smiled, and then turned to Crocodile, where his smile quickly faded. "Uh…" he said, "excuse me, but you're Sir Crocodile the pirate, aren't you?"

Crocodile's cigar smoke drifted into the air as he said, "Yep."

His face turned green as he looked at Law and Bonney and seemed to recognize them too. "And you're two of that group they call the Eleven Supernovas, aren't you?"

"That's right," Law said, not even looking at him.

Within an instant, the man seemed to become angry as he said, "Pirates again! The last time a group of pirates were in here, there was an entire fight that messed up my entire shop!"

"What do you mean?" asked Bonney through her mouthfuls of food.

The man explained. "It was only two days ago that a group of pirates came in here and began to get really annoying."

"Who was it?" asked Crocodile.

"I'm not sure, but the most notable guy was really fat with long black shaggy hair and wearing the captain's hat, so I assume that was the captain."

After a few seconds, Crocodile asked, "Was his name Blackbeard?"

_("Blackbeard, look out!")_

The owner nodded and snapped his fingers. "That was his name, yeah. Anyways, he was just sitting there with his crew, buying drinks and being rather rude when this skinny looking bald guy tries to shoot him. It seemed to fail, but I don't know what happened next; I hauled ass out of here just like everyone else."

They all sat quietly, reflecting on what he just said.

The owner looked around a little uncomfortable and said, "Well anyways, I don't want that happening again, so I want you to leave after you pay your bill."

With that, he walked away.

"It seems too coincidental for the attack to be separate…" Crocodile said. "So they even tried to get Blackbeard; Victor sure does have some guts."

"So what does it mean?" asked Bonney.

"I don't know," Crocodile answered, "but if it involves Blackbeard, it must not be a good thing. If the rumor of him stealing devil fruit powers is true, then he's got himself two powerful ones by bagging Blackbeard…"

The group then finished their meal silently, and, with their three hours of logging almost up, they paid their bill and left, having the owner breathe a small sigh of relief.

— — —

Commodore White Chase Smoker knew why he had been called up to Fleet-Admiral Sengoku's office at Mariejois, and he didn't like it one bit.

He bit down on his two cigars and entered the room to see Sengoku and Aokiji standing there, Sengoku looking over some papers on his desk, while Aokiji looked as if he was asleep while standing up. Sengoku looked up almost immediately and saw Smoker.

"Come in," he said, "and shut the door behind you."

Smoker did as he commanded and walked right in front of Sengoku's desk. "You called me sir?" he asked.

Sengoku pushed his papers aside and it looked as if Aokiji was just waking up. "Indeed, and I'm sure you know why I did it too."

"Regarding the Admirals and the Shichibukai I'm sure, sir," responded Smoker.

A vein willingly showed itself on Sengoku's head as he said, "Two dead admirals and two dead Shichibukai, all scattered around the room in what looked to be a massive brawl! All of it appeared to happen while we were attacked by that mercenary force that was probably being paid by Dragon!"

"If I may ask, sir, do you know how this happened?"

Sengoku put his hand to his head and replied, "It looks like they fought and killed each other. I'm not sure why, but I do know that Admiral Akainu told me he had an important document for me to look over later."

"I was also invited," Aokiji interjected, "but I didn't know what it was about. All Akainu said was that it involved the Shichibukai, but I decided since it wasn't mandatory, I would sit it out, and it seems like I made the right choice."

He gave a small chuckle, but it seemed like Sengoku didn't have the patience for it.

"Tensions between the Shichibukai and the World Government have been high for quite some time," he said, "and whatever Akainu proposed must have put them over the edge."

"Do we have any documentation of what Akainu may have proposed?" inquired Smoker.

_(Victor picked up both sides of the document, and, using his powers, he burned them on the spot, leaving only ashes in their place)_

Sengoku shook his head. "No."

There was silence for a few seconds, before Sengoku spoke again. "Regardless, we have two dead admirals and two dead Shichibukai…albeit Kuma could be counted as dead already, but that's beside the point. What does matter is that we're currently missing three Shichibukai."

Smoker raised an eyebrow. "I know we didn't find Doflamingo and Mihawk, but who's the third?"

"Victor Capere," Aokiji answered. "Or at least that's what he put on his official documentation the Gorosei gave him."

Smoker nodded. "That guy sounds pretty suspicious if you ask me," he said. "Doesn't it seem a _little_ strange that there's this new Shichibukai, and not a few days later, chaos erupts? I'm not ruling out the possibility of Doflamingo or Mihawk, and I personally think no Shichibukai can be trusted, but this Victor guy sounds like another Blackbeard."

"It _is_ suspicious," Sengoku agreed, "but right now, we don't know shit about what happened there, so while my gut is telling me that it heavily involved Victor, we can't simply blame it on him without any evidence; the suspects are three, and he is included. I don't want a wild goose chase of just Victor, while Mihawk and Doflamingo run free."

Smoker bit slightly harder on his cigars. "I understand sir."

"The point is," said Sengoku, "we need to track those three down. In order to assure this, we've reinstated Doflamingo and Mihawk's bounties; 340 and 370 million respectively. We've also put a bounty on Victor Capere for 325 million, however the instructions are to specifically capture them alive. Now I can't be positive with Victor, but I'm willing to bet that all three of them went into the New World when the shit hit the fan."

"Which is why you brought me here?" asked Smoker.

"Indeed," he replied. "I'm recruiting you to lead a team into the New World in an attempt to find the three missing Shichibukai. I'm not sure what they were thinking by attacking Akainu and Kizaru, or even _how_ they were able to kill them, but they were apparently able to survive, and I want them back here to find out what went on and if necessary, to hold them responsible."

Smoker nodded his head. "Of course, sir."

"You may choose whoever you want for this mission, and you're to leave as soon as possible."

"In that case, I'd like to take Ensign Tashigi and Captain Hina with me."

"Black Cage?" asked Aokiji.

Smoke nodded. "When it comes to capturing people, she's the very best."

"Very well," Sengoku said. "We will inform them immediately, and have all of you leave as soon as possible. We already have a ship with a small crew prepared; fortunately you can go right over the Red Line and you won't have to go through Fishman Island, so that will save you some time. We don't expect those three to be on any of the first few islands, so we're just sending you to the Vespian Isles with an eternal pose."

Smoker remained silent as his cigar smoke drifted into the air. "Is that all, sir?" he asked eventually.

Sengoku nodded. "You are dismissed."

Smoker gave a quick salute before turning his back on both men and then leaving. When he was gone, Sengoku sat down in his chair and rubbed his temples in an attempt to calm himself down, which didn't work.

_("You can't stop…the new era…" Whitebeard smiled through all the blood. "Soon…there will be more youngsters…and you'll have far more to worry about…")_

"Looks like you were right, Whitebeard," Sengoku found himself saying.

Aokiji nodded and put his sleep mask back on, saying only, "Yes sir…"

* * *

Smoker on the hunt...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	41. Wallowing in the Wake

Splint's nightmare: on a ship with Ivankov. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**41: Wallowing in the Wake**

The ship Silvers Rayleigh gave them may have been large, but for Splint, there was no space too large to put between him and Ivankov.

They had only been traveling from Sabaody Archipelago for a little bit, and they were currently on the stretch of water between Sabaody and the Red Line, a place where Straw Hat Luffy had been only a day ago.

While the crew was normally used to chaos, even Robin, Chopper, Franky, and Brook would have to admit that the actions that go on between Ivankov and Splint bordered on the bizarre. Currently, Ivankov was giving chase to Splint, who desperately tried to get away from his grasp.

"Come on Splint-Boy!" he called. "All it takes is one injection and you'll become a beautiful woman!"

"Go and do it yourself, ya fuckin' weirdo!" Splint called back while still running.

Robin was currently reading an interesting book (at least she thought so), and even she—who usually had the greatest amount of tolerance for that sort of thing—found their actions to get somewhat annoying.

"Inazuma!" Ivankov called to her companion sitting on the deck and drinking a glass of wine (as usual), "Help me catch Splint-Boy! I vant to see him become a woman."

Inazuma took a sip of his wine and coolly responded, "Catch him yourself…you're supposed to be the big man right?"

Ivankov scoffed at this and said, "Of course I am, but Splint-Boy is pretty athletic himself."

"I account that for smoking two packs a day!" he bragged.

"Shouldn't that make it worse?" Franky asked, while tweaking some small machine on deck next to Taroimo, who then looked to Chopper, lying down in his reindeer form, taking in the sun.

He lazily looked up and nodded.

"Shows how much you know!" Splint said. "I guess you just don't understand the complex athletic body of a great revolutionary like myself!"

"I would smoke," Brook said absent-mindedly, having his body lean against the side of the ship at a forty-five degree angle, "but I'm afraid I might damage my lungs…"

"Just try it for an hour to see if you like it!" Ivankov persisted. "I promise I'll make you hot!"

"…Oh wait, I have no lungs! Yohohohohoho!"

Getting tired of chasing, Ivankov decided to go the easiest way out. "Death Wink!" he said, winking so hard that the power was able to hit Splint in his legs, sending him sprawling to the floor.

"Hee-Haw, I gotcha!" he said, jumping over to where Splint lay.

Quick as a flash, Splint flipped over and hopped to his feet, one of his gloves off, showing his pure-white palm. "You get near me," he warned, "and I'll erase that make-up right off your face."

Ivankov looked horrified at this as he backed up a few paces. "Erase my make-up? Why, that thought…that thought…that thought…"

"You okay?" Franky asked, while Taroimo barked in a concerned manner.

"…DOESN'T BOTHER ME AT ALL!" he finished, leaping towards Splint with his fingers already turned into syringes.

Fortunately, Splint saw through it and was able to hop to his side, letting Ivankov's fingers go into the deck of the ship. Not wasting an instant, Splint hopped down towards Ivankov and was able to erase the wood from under him, sending him falling to the floor below with a scream and a crash.

"Good riddance," Splint said, putting his glove back on.

"Hey! Watch what you're doing with the ship!" Franky seemed to yell with offense. "We just got it!"

Splint lit himself a cigarette and waved. "Sorry, sorry," he said, "but it was necessary I assure you…"

Robin quietly turned a page from her book, trying to block out the madness going on currently.

Inazuma took a sip of his wine and remarked casually to Splint, "You know you're dead, right?"

"Huh?" he asked, "what do you—"

"HELL WINK!"

From the inside of the ships, a massive explosion came out and hit an unprepared Splint dead on, sending him flying to the opposite end of the deck. Ivankov appeared with a face much larger than normal (thanks to his Emporio Face Growth Synthesis of course), as he appeared back on deck, his face shrinking back to its normal size.

"I told you to be careful with the ship!" Franky yelled, no one appearing to hear him.

"That oughta teach you," he said in a victorious voice.

"What the hell are you doing you fucking freak?" yelled Splint, hopping to his feet, his cigarette gone and some blood flowing down the side of his head. "A little more and I would have fallen into the ocean!"

Ivankov laughed at this. "Good! Then maybe Dragon will be able to move faster without you dragging him down."

"Why you son of a—"

"Hey!" a revolutionary yelled from the top of the ship. "We're coming up on the Red Line fast! I suggest we activate the coating now!"

Both Ivankov and Splint looked up, and then back at each other, knowing they had other priorities than to have an all-out brawl on the deck.

They were able to activate the coating on the ship easy (since Ivankov, Splint, and Inazuma have done it before), and before no time, a massive bubble surrounded the ship, and it began to sink into the ocean (taking that time to explain its methods to the dumbstruck Franky, Chopper, and Brook).

When enough time elapsed and they were deep enough, the ship began to move again, and before anyone knew it, they were under the Red Line, and at Fishman Island.

Everyone gazed at it in wonder (even Robin found time to look away from her book), as Chopper and Brook asked the most questions about it. Even with the wonder that everyone saw, they couldn't help but feel some things were wrong. They docked in Bubble One, and as soon as they all stepped off the ship and onto the ground, it looked like a massive disaster hit the citizens of Bubble One.

All around, the citizens were repairing broken buildings and collecting debris, and it looked like there were almost no tourists in the area.

"Did an earthquake or something hit this place?" asked Splint.

"Sure does look that way," replied Robin, looking around some more. "I guess the only way to find out would be to look around."

Inazuma seemed to agree as he said, "It takes ten hours to log this island, so as long as everyone is back on the ship by then, we'll be fine."

Everyone went their separate ways, with Splint, Brook, and Franky going in one direction (saying something about finding supplies at Bubble Four), Inazuma and Ivankov going in another, and Robin and Chopper deciding to explore around Bubble One.

The first thing the two of them noticed was that despite having to rebuild some of the buildings, spirits were relatively high. No one looked sad and distraught, but rather, seemed to be enjoying it while striking up casual conversation with their neighbor.

"Must not have been too bad," Chopper said, taking note of their mood.

Robin nodded in agreement.

The second thing they noticed was that as soon as they left the immediate area they were in (closest to the edge of the bubble), they saw the tourists buzzing around. Robin attributed this to the fact that this was where the restaurants and real commerce were, and, despite the buildings suffering damage as well, they were open, unlike the ones on the outskirts.

Chopper smelled the food and said, "I wonder if Sanji was able to pick up some of the recipes while they were here."

"Probably," assured Robin. "Although I wonder if they were here during the time the incident here happened."

They stopped for a second to take in the sights of the area, and it was then that they both saw the strangest thing since they had been on the island. A large group of men, all of them marching with three to a row, walked by in what seemed like an endless amount of rows. All of the men appeared to have their hands tied up at the front with a piece of rope connected to the other two prisoners in their row; surrounding them to make sure they didn't escape was a group of surly-looking fishmen.

"What's that?" asked a wide-eyed and curious Chopper.

"It certainly looks like a group of convicts being escorted off the island," Robin said, "but I don't know for sure."

Then, when the group finally seemed to come to an end, at the tail end of the group was a very large heavily-bandaged man walking alone with his hands and feet shackled, and guarding him was a massive fishman who Robin undeniably recognized.

"Jimbei…" she said in a louder voice than she should have. "What's one of the Shichibukai doing here?"

Strangely enough, Jimbei seemed to catch what Robin said, as he looked over at the two of them. He then stopped the man he was escorting for a second, and looked deep in thought. Then it looked as if an idea just popped into his mind and he walked over to the two.

"What's he doing?" Chopper asked.

"Just be still," she replied, "let's see what he wants."

As soon as he got in front of then, he surprisingly smiled as he asked, "Do you two happen to belong to the Straw Hat Crew?"

"Huh?" they both seemed to say at once.

"Uh…yeah…" Chopper said with confusion stamped on his face.

Jimbei let out a massive laugh as he said, "You know, Luffy told me to look out for you guys, but he didn't really tell me your physical features; I was only able to notice you because he said he had a talking human-reindeer in his crew, and we don't get many of those around here."

"You talked to Luffy?" asked Robin immediately.

Jimbei sensed her confusion as he explained, "Yeah. He was here not a day ago, kicking this guy's ass for us."

He nudged at the bandaged man next to him, who remained unresponsive.

"His name's Farraday, and he tried to take over Fishman Island," Jimbei explained. "But Luffy didn't have any of that, so he took care of him for us; I'm simply leading him and his crew to the transport ship that will take him to the Marines."

Farraday seemed to groan at this.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand everything you're saying," Robin persisted.

"Of course you don't," Jimbei chuckled. "Tell you what, I need to drop this guy off at the ship, but the Mermaid Princess wants to have a word with you two. Just go to her office—straight in that direction," he pointed down to one of the many streets, "and tell the guards at the gate; they'll verify and take you to her. I'm sure she'll be very happy to see you, and she'll fill you in on all the details."

Both Robin and Chopper nodded, confusion still evident on their faces. Jimbei didn't bother explaining any further, as he simply left the two.

Chopper looked up at Robin. "So what should we do?"

After a few seconds, Robin answered, "We might as well give it a try. Worst that can happen is that we get turned away at the gate…"

— — —

"…So you see," Mermaid Princess Kalyn said to Robin and Chopper, pouring them a cup of tea, "Mr. Luffy was able to ward off Farraday for us and led him to an open fight. Eventually Farraday got desperate and took away who he thought was the Princess—a lie I believe a woman named Nami told—and Luffy chased him down before finally finishing him off and capturing him."

"I see…" Robin said, taking a sip of tea, while Chopper didn't touch his.

Princess Kalyn's face lit up as she said, "It was thanks to him that Fishman Island was saved."

"Well it sounds like if Luffy was never here, Farraday never would have attacked," said Robin, "so the argument could be made that if he wasn't here, the island would be untouched."

Kalyn giggled at this. "I suppose, but the attack opened my eyes and raised the need for a military force, so some good came out of it."

Robin nodded and took another sip of her tea.

Jimbei turned out to be true to his word, as they were allowed entrance to the Princess's building quite easily. They were escorted by two fishmen, who led them up to the Princess's office. She greeted them with joy and elation, and offered to explain the entire story while making tea.

"Luffy seemed very concerned about your well-being," Kalyn said, "and I'm glad to see that you're doing all right. In fact, he made me promise to give you two a message."

"What's that?" asked Chopper, looking up.

"He said that he'd be on the Vespian Isles with the rest of his crew, and that he hoped he would meet up with you there."

"Vespian Isles?" repeated Robin.

She nodded and stood up and began to look around her room. "In fact…" she continued, "…I gave him an eternal pose there, and I said I would have another one prepared for you as well. It should be somewhere around here…"

She then made a brief noise of excitement as she said, "Here it is!"

She presented them with the eternal pose of the Vespian Isles and said, "With this, you won't even have to wait on this island and you'll be able to catch up to Luffy a lot faster."

Robin took the eternal pose and examined it. "Thank you…"

Kalyn put her hand on Robin's shoulder and smiled. "You should be more excited! With this, you will be able to see your Captain sooner!"

"If that's the case," Chopper said, "we should get everyone back together as soon as possible and go."

Robin nodded, taking another sip of her tea and standing up. "We truly appreciate your help your majesty," she said, "but I'm sure you understand our leaving early."

Kalyn nodded. "Of course! I hope you will get back together with your crew soon!"

"Thanks a lot your highness!" Chopper said, waving to her as they both walked towards the door. "We hope to come back here some day!"

Kalyn laughed at this. "I hope so too!"

They left, and not but a few minutes later, Jimbei walked through the door.

"I saw the two I sent here leaving already," he said, looking back at the doors.

"Their names are Robin and Chopper," Kalyn explained, "and they're in a bit of a hurry; I'm sure you understand."

Jimbei smiled and nodded. "Yes…if they're friends of Luffy's then they must be good people."

"Indeed," Kalyn said, walking towards the newly-repaired window. "It's hard to believe there are still good pirates out there, eh Jimbei?"

Jimbei nodded. "There are plenty, your majesty, but you'd be hard pressed to find one as likeable as him."

Kalyn smiled at this, and looked back at Jimbei. "There's no need for the 'your majesty'; just call me Kalyn."

Jimbei looked a bit confused, but nodded and said, "Of course, Kalyn…"

— — —

It took nearly two hours for the entire crew to get back on the ship and to set sail again.

* * *

Still not a whole crew, yet trying at every instance to rectify that statement...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	42. Burst It

A meeting on the ocean. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**42: Burst It**

"Hey, how come the ship's coming up again?" Luffy asked his crew as the _Thousand Sunny_ began to rise from the oceans depths after they left Fishman Island. "I thought the bubble just takes the ship down, not up."

Everyone looked just as confused as Luffy, until Nami looked at the side of the ship and tried to explain. "Look at the ocean floor," she said.

They all did, and what they saw was a large amount of what looked to be little volcanoes (at least to them, just seeing Arashi's Point), and all of them seemed to be exhuming some kind of gas.

"Well what is it?" asked Sanji, staring intently at them.

Nami put her hand on her chin and thought for a second. "If I were to guess, I would say that this particular area on the sea floor has a large amount of hotspots, the places where magma comes out of the ocean floor—like miniature volcanoes. What's currently coming up is highly concentrated steam, and with such a large amount of it, I would say that it's counteracting the force of the bubble and sending us back up again."

Suddenly, as the ship got closer to the surface, the _Thousand Sunny_ began to suddenly rise much more rapidly, causing everyone to have a sense of confusion.

"Could you maybe explain what's going on now then?" asked a worried Usopp, holding onto the ship and not daring to let go.

Nami shook her head and said, "I don't know!"

Boa Hancock stepped forward and explained. "You were right about the steam, but don't think this is normal steam; you're in the New World now, and nothing in the New World is normal. The 'hotspots' as you described them are a natural phenomena here called the Narox Drift, where the steam coming out of the hotspots start off relatively weak, but when they get closer to the air, they react to the air and become denser and denser, forcing the bubble up faster, and as soon as the oxygen hits the air, well, I guess you'll see."

"So what does that mean for the _Sunny_?" Nami asked helplessly.

Hancock smiled and pointed up. "I hope it can take some punishment."

"What do you—" Zoro started, but was cut off as the _Thousand Sunny_ hit the surface, and immediately it was shot up into the air and blinding speeds, causing everyone to yell.

All around them they were surrounded by white, and after a few seconds of intense flying, the ship broke past the white and the Straw Hat Crew saw the sky and the sun again. The _Thousand Sunny_ hopped a little bit after breaking past the steam, and while it was in the air, the bubble surrounding it popped, letting a cool breeze come in. The good feeling didn't last long, however, for as soon as they reached the peak, they began to drop down again.

The crew gave another yell of confusion (save for Luffy who was yelling from excitement), but right before they hit the steam again, the ship stopped suddenly. The crew looked over the edge and saw that the _Thousand Sunny_ was happily drifting on the steam, going straight onwards.

"What the hell just happened?" Sanji asked, gripping his heart and breathing heavily.

Everyone immediately looked to Hancock.

"Hmph!" was her reply, until she said, "As I stated earlier, the steam of the Narox Drift is different from normal steam. As soon as it hits the air, the steam oxidizes and begins to push whatever's in it at a much faster rate. At the very top of the steam, however, it's exposed to the most air and it hardens to a degree where, while not the strongest, it can support a ship; it's almost like floating on the sky."

"Yeah, except we've done that before," Zoro said, looking down in a dejected manner.

Hancock pointed forward. "Look," she said.

They did, and they saw what seemed to be just a sea of white, as the ship drifted happily onward, not showing a care. The crew seemed to calm down to some degree, and for a few minutes, it seemed like everything was going to be alright.

"So how do we get down?" Nami finally asked.

Hancock gave a small chuckle and said, "About that…remember when I said I hope your ship can take some punishment?"

"Yeah…"

She pointed to the front again and said, "Now you'll know what I mean."

Before any more questions could be asked, the _Thousand Sunny_ suddenly reached the end of the steam, drifting harmlessly off of it for a second, before finally letting gravity take over and free-falling down to the ocean floor several feet below.

_"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

The ship hit the water with a massive splash took a few seconds before righting itself, bobbing forward, and floating onward again, apparently unhurt.

Luffy simply laughed at this and said, "It's a good thing Franky made this out of one of the hardest woods out there."

"I'd say that helped," Hancock interjected, "but the resin put on the ship before going to the island doubles as somewhat of a protective coating, the resin seeping into the wood and naturally hardening it, helping the ship take more damage."

Luffy barely paid attention to that as he hopped up towards the front of the deck and looked out, wide-eyed. "So this is the New World…"

"Sure does know how to welcome pirates, doesn't it?" asked Usopp sarcastically.

Luffy didn't care as he continued to stare out, taking in everything he could see, although to him, it looked absolutely no different from the first half of the Grand Line, simply blue ocean on the left and right and in front of him (only pure white steam was behind him, though), in the distance he thought he could see a faint island.

"The place where the New Generation Pirates gather…" he whispered to himself, only loud enough for himself to hear it.

— — —

They had met at last. Or rather, it was sooner than they had thought.

Luffy and his crew had spent an entire day running the _Thousand Sunny_ across the New World's ocean without break, in an attempt to catch up with Victor. They had currently breezed past three of the islands (with Luffy trying to stop them at the second island of Raspia, but to no avail), and at the third island of Inoria, Luffy complained that he wanted to stop there to "check it out."

_"No, Luffy," Nami persisted,_ _"if we want to have a chance at catching up, we can't stop by any islands. We've got enough food to last us for a while, and we don't need any supplies right now."_

_"But I wanna see what the islands are like!" said Luffy._

_"You're not missing anything, I assure you," Hancock said. "Up until the Vespian Isles, all of the islands before it are one-horse towns."_

That seemed to shut Luffy up for good, as they unknowingly passed Law, Bonney, and Crocodile on Inoria, who were currently waiting for their sixteen hour log to be up.

They had just passed the fourth island, however, when it happened.

It was still morning when the crew saw perhaps one of the strangest things they've ever seen. It looked as if there was a giant, doggy-paddling in the ocean with a ship on its back, and a crew of men bustling about on top of it.

"What the hell is that?" Zoro asked.

For Luffy and Hancock, however, they both studied the giant hard, as if they tried to remember him from somewhere. Then, it finally snapped in their mind as they both looked at each other and said:

"He's from when—"

"What are you talking about?" asked Sanji, lighting a cigarette.

"I don't know how to really explain it," Luffy said. "While I blacked out due to…you know…I kept seeing blurry images of the battle, and while they weren't perfect, I can still remember…the most obvious of which was a giant…"

"His name is San Juan Wolf," said Hancock, explaining further. "Back when he was a notorious pirate, he was known for carrying a giant warship on his back, hence his nickname Colossal Battleship. He was recently broken out of Impel Down with Blackbeard by—"

Suddenly, Luffy remembered as he said quietly, "Blackbeard…"

Immediately a pool of unpleasant memories flooded into his head, as he simply said to his crew, "Get ready for a fight!"

"What?"

Not bothering to explain, Luffy jumped on top of the _Thousand Sunny's_ lion head and yelled, _"BLACKBEARD!"_

— — —

Victor liked to think he was making good time, but he knew that if he didn't get to the Vespian Isles soon, his plan might go awry. This morning he woke Wolf up at the crack of dawn and forced him to move, taking them to the fourth island in the New World, where they had to wait five hours to log the island before moving on. Feeling the urgency pressing him, Victor tried to keep it going, for he could feel in his bones that he was almost there.

He walked around and saw his men working and men from the Corps of Kings just lying around doing nothing. He was fine with that; he had enough manpower to keep Wolf moving, and he thought his good mood would return as he got closer.

Unfortunately for him, he had been discovered.

No one bothered to look behind them (they only focused on what was in front of them), and before anyone expected it, they heard that yell.

_"BLACKBEARD!"_

Naturally everyone looked around and Victor, taking out a pair of binoculars, looked and saw the _Thousand Sunny_ with Luffy's pirate insignia flying high on it. Victor mentally cursed himself as he let his rage become known.

"I _knew_ he had an eternal pose!" he snarled. "Otherwise we'd be way ahead of him! Who would have thought that fucking kid had enough brain power to think that far ahead, but he did!"

He quickly regained his composure, however, as he began to rap out orders to the men. "I suppose we can expect them to want to fight us; it seems that due to Mr. Wolf's subtlety here, that Straw Hat thinks we're a part of Blackbeard's crew. How about we get rid of that conception right here, eh?"

The crew gave a massive roar, but it was quickly cut off by the sound of cannons coming from the other ship. It flew close to Wolf, but ultimately hit at the side, giving him a start. The crew was immediately at arms, and began to arm the bolted down cannons aimed at the _Thousand Sunny_.

Several shots were fired back and forth, and neither side was scoring any hits, but the _Thousand Sunny_, however, was slowly gaining on Wolf. Finally, Victor told his men to stand down; they looked back at him skeptically.

"This back-and-forth isn't doing shit," he said. "I think we need something with a little more _oomph_, wouldn't you say William?"

William Helmont tipped his hat up slightly and said, "I'd say you're right there Boss."

Victor motioned his hand to the end of the ship and said, "Well by all means, show them what it's like to taste real artillery."

William smiled and happily obliged, walking towards the ship and pointing his entire right arm slightly upward. Then, his powers went to work as his entire right arm began to turn into what looked like a massive silver barrel. Most of the crew stared in shock as Victor smirked.

"Looks like that Blast-Blast Fruit is finally coming in handy, eh Will?" he asked light-heartedly.

"Finally?" William asked with a laugh. "Bah! Always!"

"Blast-Blast Fruit?" his crew asked.

"It's a devil fruit that lets him turn any part of his body into an artillery weapon. Kind of like my Dice-Dice Fruit powers, but with projectiles instead of swords," he explained. "Now let's see first-hand why they call him Gunslinger William!"

Everyone fell silent as William began to take aim. Finally, he yelled, "Blast-Blast Artillery!"

From his arm shot a massive shell, flying towards the _Thousand Sunny_ before finally hitting near their side, causing a large explosion and sending the ship tilting to the left before finally righting itself.

"Damn, a little off," William said to himself, changing his direction just a bit.

He tried again, and it was off again as well.

"Come on Will! I thought you were a crack shot!" chided Victor. "They're gaining on us, and I want this shit to be done fast!"

"It won't get any better with you running your mouth off like that!" William shot back, trying to aim again. Finally, he said, "Got it…"

With that, he fired off another artillery shell, this time, however, it appeared to be right on target…

— — —

The first artillery shell scared them to say the least.

"The hell was that?" Nami asked, covering her head.

"Some kind of strong shot!" Usopp said, aiming his cannon a little more to the left before firing again.

"Come on, can't this thing go any faster?" Sanji asked. "Shooting these cannons won't do any good, and we need to get close enough so we can board their ship and fight 'em."

"Shut up!" Zoro said, who was steering the ship. "We're gaining on them slowly but surely!"

"Slowly ain't enough if one of those blasts hit us!" Sanji shot back.

Then, they heard another shot, and they looked to see another artillery shell coming right towards them. "Shit!" Luffy said. "That one's coming right for us!"

With that, Usopp ran away from the cannon and towards Zoro saying, "Shit, we gotta use our secret maneuver fast!"

"What?" Zoro asked.

Usopp was running past him, not even answering, and pulling a lever by him. With that, the mane on the _Thousand Sunny's_ lion head began to spin, and right before the shell hit them, Usopp yelled, "Chicken Voyage!"

With that, the _Thousand Sunny_ shot backwards, going in reverse and ultimately avoiding the shot all-together. The crew breathed a sigh of relief as Usopp said, "We don't have time to wait around; we gotta use our weapons in conjunction!"

Pulling another lever, the Sunny began to move forward quickly and suddenly it shot gave a powerful burst from its back and sent the ship flying through the air. "Coup de Burst!" yelled Usopp in the air.

They landed much closer to Wolf now, close enough in fact, that they could see the surprised faces on Victor's crew. Not wasting any time, Usopp ran towards the front and ran into the ships prow. He quickly gave aim to the back of Wolf as the mouth of the lion opened up and yelled:

"The _Sunny's _secret weapon, the Gaon Cannon!"

— — —

Seeing the _Thousand Sunny_ flying in the air was quite a shock to Victor and his crew for obvious reasons. They watched as it flew and landed not but a few yards away from their ship.

"Shit!" he said. "I don't know what that ship's doing, but it certainly knows how to catch up!"

Then, he saw the mouth of the lion open up, revealing a gun barrel. He sensed what it would do as he turned towards all of his men. "Get to the front now!" he ordered, which most of them happily obliged.

He turned to Tobias and said, "Defend the ship!"

He nodded as he leapt towards the back.

"Gaon Cannon!"

The _Thousand Sunny _suddenly released a massive blast of air straight towards Wolf. Tobias reacted quickly as he leapt up and yelled, "Dream-Dream Shield!"

With that, a transparent yellow rectangular shield large enough to cover the entire ship's back appeared and took the full force of the blast. It cracked, but Tobias held it strong until the force was too much and the shield shattered, sending Tobias flying towards the front of the deck sweating and panting. Fortunately, it did its job and protected the ship from harm.

Then, just as the crew gave a sigh of relief, they saw Luffy's rubber arm stretch and grab the end of the ship. They all knew who it was and gave an involuntary yelp of terror. Just as they saw Luffy propel forward, Victor appeared right on the back of the ship.

Luffy recognized him immediately and only had time to say, "Victor!"

Victor, with his leg glowing yellow, smiled and was able to deal Luffy a massive kick to the face, sending him flying back towards the _Thousand Sunny_.

"You're outta your league here Straw Hat!" he said with a mix of joy and anger. "You'd better go home!"

He could see Zoro, Sanji, and Hancock running towards Luffy, who was currently on his back. Victor turned back to his crew and yelled, "Wolf, get us out of here! Use your legs!"

From the front, they could hear, "Yes!"

With that, Wolf began to kick his legs up and down, sending powerful waves from them crashing into the _Thousand Sunny_, and speeding up Victor's ship as well. Not before long, the distance between them was large, but Victor didn't want him to stop.

He looked away from Luffy's ship and turned towards the front. He felt shivers run down his spine, as he knew what he was seeing.

In the distance, he could see the silhouette of the Vespian Isles.

* * *

Arriving at the island of mystery at last...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	43. The Plaguebringer

Face-to-face with a Yonko. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**43: The Plaguebringer**

The Vespian Isles were hard to miss.

Unlike the first four islands in the New World (and a few small plots of land that couldn't even be called islands) which were relatively small with one or two towns in them, the Vespian Isles were on a much larger scale, similar to the country of Alabasta.

The most islands, the Vespian Isles were called isles for a reason. The entire area itself is made up of several isles of land all in close proximity to each other. If looking at the area from an overhead point of view, one would see around ten decent sized isles all around, each being surrounded by water and looking as if they could be connected to form an irregular-shaped island.

The most notable thing about the islands, however, is that they all surround a circular-shaped area of water (which couldn't be called a lake due to the fact that it's connected to the ocean on all sides due to no isle being connected), and near the center of the water was another isle, larger than the others, but still in relative proportions with the others, making it stand out from its counterparts; this was known as the Hydrox Isle.

Despite the isles not being connected, all of the people who live there consider themselves Vespians (the name for the islanders), and in order to make sure they were connected to each other, they built large stone bridges connecting each isle to the next (arching to leave enough room for ships to pass under) in a maze-like fashion. Vespians use the bridge to go from isle to isle in their daily routines, and it has become a norm to them.

Within each isle there was generally a single large village. Within these villages, there was a bustle of commercialism, as travelers passed each village day to day for food and drink and rest, and anything else a traveler needed. Usually each village had a little bit of everything—however one or two were specialized (such as one village completely devoted to farming)—including artisans and so on, so the Vespian Isles were a rather popular place for people to stop by to restock and get some supplies.

On the largest isle, however (which from the overhead view would be located on the left side of the area), the entire isle was just a massive city, with large buildings everywhere and anything anyone could imagine. This city—known as Sylar City—was where most people stopped and rested, as it was the isle that offered the most.

While the Vespian Isles were known to be somewhat of a peaceful place in terms of attacks and raids on it, a massive tragedy hit the people of the area. Somewhat recently, one of the Yonkos who goes by the name of Kaido invaded the island, and, after taking over the Hydrox Isle, he simply put his men there and occupied the area.

The government of the Vespian Isles (which was somewhat of a democratic monarchy), who's buildings were situated in Sylar City, sent ambassadors over to Kaido to see what he wanted, to which he only sneered at them and said he wanted nothing in particular, just to stay on the island for a while.

The government knew that they couldn't repel Kaido's forces (or him for that matter), and since Kaido didn't move much from the Hydrox Isle, they decided to leave him alone and hope he would leave soon enough.

While Kaido did generally stay on the Hydrox Isle, whenever he needed supplies or wanted something, he simply sent his pirates out to whatever isle he wanted (which was simple due to all of the bridge connections) and they would simply take it and cause whatever havoc they wanted.

Needless to say, this caused strife with the Vespians, and while the government was content to let bygones be bygones, the citizens wouldn't take it lying down…

Victor Capere had known all of this going onto the Vespian Isles, and even more, as it turned out.

Thanks to Wolf's supreme swimming skills (along with his powerful wave-inducing kicks), they were able to widen the gap significantly between them and the Straw Hat Pirates, who seemed to have stopped their ship to aid their captain. Thanks to their setback, Victor was able to reach the Vespian Isles while the _Thousand Sunny_ was just a speck in the distance.

Immediately upon reaching the Vespian Isles, Victor commanded Wolf to head for the Hydrox Isle, which he happily did, swimming under all of the stone bridges which people walked on daily.

As soon as they landed on the beach area of the isle, Victor ordered Wolf to lay low and try to hide himself (not an easy feat), so he wouldn't attract attention to the people or the Straw Hats, who were no doubt hot on their trail looking for them. Wolf agreed and lied down on his stomach, immediately going to sleep.

Victor then, flanked by every member of the Corps of Kings, walked towards the single village on the Hydrox Isle, known as Duma Village. While walking, however, he ordered Tobias to dream up a gasmask for every member of the Corps of Kings, which he happily did. Victor administered them to everyone.

"Don't take these off for even a second," he warned. "And if things start to go bad, I suggest we all run for our lives."

"When will we know when it goes bad?" asked Kenji.

Victor smiled as he put on his own gasmask. "You'll know, trust me."

It didn't take them long to reach Duma Village, and as soon as they did, everyone immediately noticed one thing: it was deathly silent. Victor led the way as they walked through the deserted village, looking side to side at the deserted houses and businesses, all with their windows and doors closed. When they reached the village center, they noticed a large group of bodies scattered around the area.

"Proceed cautiously," Victor said as he moved towards them slower than before.

Victor kneeled down towards one of the bodies lying face-down, and, after putting on a pair of gloves, turned the body over. There, he saw a horrifying sight.

The man was clearly dead, and decay had begun to set in. Yet despite this, there were still telltale signs of what killed him. Victor carefully traced his hand over the man's neck, and saw that the lymph nodes in his neck had swollen to gargantuan proportions, almost to the width of his chin. He raised the man's arm and saw that the lymph nodes under his armpits were swollen as well. Victor saw that the man's jaw was blackened along with his lips, and several red marks were visible on his neck.

"Yep," Victor said through his gasmask, standing back up and taking the glove off. "There's no doubt about it; this is his doing."

"What do you mean?" Aliyyah finally asked.

Victor pointed to all of the bodies on the floor and said, "All of these people died of the Iron Flu; the signs are quite evident, blackening of the lips and jaws, deep sunken in eyes, and obviously the swollen lymph nodes everywhere. From the looks of the decay, they've been rotting here for at least three weeks."

"So you're saying it was a virus that killed all of these people?" asked Kaede in disbelief.

"Not a virus, but an amped up version of the flu," explained Victor. "This sucker's so contagious that simply talking to someone who has it can get you infected, and it is almost always deadly, with no real symptoms either. The early symptoms are just coughing and sneezing, which everyone would pass off as non-threatening, and all the while they'd be passing it everywhere. Then within a day or so they symptoms get severe with the coughing up of phlegm and swelling of the nodes and the darkening of the jaw and lips. Usually a person who contracts the Iron Flu is dead within forty-eight hours."

"Damn…" William said. "Can we get it?"

"Don't worry," Victor said. "The flu only passes around while the person's alive, and even so, the respirators in the gasmasks should keep us clean."

Everyone shuddered at seeing the bodies, but Vendrix surprisingly laughed and said, "Kikikikiki! So the whole village was wiped out in two days? I love it!"

Victor threw his gloves off and wiped his hands. "Yep, and it's his signature move too."

"Who's?" asked Basco Shot.

"Razeden Kaido," Victor explained with a grimace. "He ate the Flu-Flu Fruit, which makes him a biological threat in himself, tweaking all sorts of viruses and bugs to whatever he wants and sending it on anyone, earning him the name the Plaguebringer."

Silence reigned for a few seconds before Victor finally said, "Come on, I think I hear some noise somewhere around here."

After a few more seconds of following, Victor and his group finally found what they had been looking. The Yonko Kaido sat in a large chair set outside by a fire and eating and drinking and having a merry old time.

Kaido himself was a massive man, around the same size as Gecko Moria, Victor thought. He didn't, however, seem to have the massive weight to go along with it. He was muscle-bound, no doubt, but in terms of his height, Kaido was looking a little on the lean side. He had a sinister-looking chiseled face that looked like he had been through a lot in his time. He was probably in his mid-to-late forties, but he didn't show it, as he still had jet-black hair without a touch of gray that was hidden under his red bandana and black captain's hat. The hate bore his insignia of a pirate skull behind a hazmat sign, signifying his power. He wore a large black captain's cloak that hung loosely on his shoulders, and under it was a simple white tank-top that revealed his arms; he had a red sash that kept up his black pants.

The group looked around and saw that all of Kaido's pirates (Plague Pirates they were called) wore white hazmat suits covering them from head to toe, most likely to protect themselves from Kaido's many diseases, yet despite this, a small amount of pirates were rather close to the Yonko. Kaido noticed them almost immediately and kept his large smile on.

"What brings fine folks like you here?" he asked with a giggle.

Victor put his hands up and said, "We come in peace; we just want to talk."

Kaido had himself a good laugh at this. "Tragagagagagaga! You come in peace do you? Well too bad I'm a fucking pirate, and I never come in peace!"

"We just want to talk," Victor repeated calmly.

Kaido pointed to Victor's face and said, "You're wearing masks, so I'm guessing you know of my powers then."

Victor nodded.

Kaido laughed again saying, "Then you must know of the power of my mucus. If you were to get touched by it, an innumerable amount of bacteria would enter your body, and it would be in a pretty bad spot."

Victor said nothing, simply staring at Kaido with intensity.

Kaido made several disgusting noises as he closed his mouth and seemed to be moving something around in it. Finally, he spat a large amount of mucus towards the group, saying, "Muck-Up Mucus!"

Victor immediately leapt into action, cocking his right fist back and turning it into lava as the mucus flew towards him. He thrust his fist forward, sending out a massive lava fist saying, "Great Eruption!"

The fist hit the mucus dead on, and incinerated it instantly; the fist flew harmlessly past Kaido's side and went flying into the distance. He looked at Victor with his smile returning.

"Pretty good, kid…" he said.

"Like I said, we just want to talk," replied Victor.

Kaido leaned back further in his chair and said, "Alright, I'll listen. Talk."

"You're one of the four—well, three now—Yonko left, aren't you?" Victor asked.

"No fucking shit!" he replied.

Victor ignored it and continued. "And yet, despite being one of the closest men to One Piece, you find that you're deadlocked and can't go any further. I'm sure to be so close, yet so far to the worlds greatest treasure must be painful."

Kaido scowled and said, "What's your point?"

Victor then looked at him intently and said, "What if I told you I could give you the power to end the deadlock and get to One Piece?"

"Tragagagagaga! I'd say you're full of shit!"

Victor pointed to the ground beneath him and said, "I assure you I'm telling the truth; all you need to do is hear me out."

"Prove it!" Kaido shot out. "Prove that you can give me power to get to One Piece."

Victor held up his index finger and said, "Ever hear of Poseidon?"

Everyone immediately froze at that point, as even Kaido's smile faded. "You mean the weapon of great destruction, known for destroying entire islands."

"The same, except it—like the Pluton—is also a massive warship."

"So what about it?" asked Kaido, "No one knows where it is."

Victor smiled behind his gasmask and said, "Oh, but people do, and I'm one of them, and I can get it for you too."

"If you're so smart, then where is it?" demanded Kaido.

Victor pointed to the earth beneath him once again and said, "It's right under your feet, and its been here for hundreds of years, just been laying around, waiting for someone to take it."

Kaido looked under him. "Right underneath?"

Victor nodded. "It's right underneath Hydrox Isle, several meters beneath the solid rock this land is built on. Luckily for you, however, I have a means of getting it to you."

"How?"

Victor wrenched his thumb back to Abalo Pizarro and said, "This guy's eaten the Drill-Drill Fruit—hence his drills for hands—and can easily get through that nasty rock. Yet even then, we need someone to get the weapon don't we? Well luckily, I happen to have in my possession the largest man to ever live, who is more than capable of lifting such a weapon out for us."

Kaido was quiet for a second, before saying, "What do you want in return?"

Victor smiled at this. "In return for giving you the Poseidon, I only ask for a few simple things. First, that you give me and my men constant protection on this isle while we dig the weapon up for you. You see, there might be some people coming for us, and that would certainly hinder our work. Secondly, I want an alliance with you and your pirates, and I want you to lead me and my men to Raftel on the Poseidon, and thirdly, that we split the gold in One Piece fifty-fifty."

Kaido considered this for a second, before finally saying, "Alright; consider us an alliance now, and we'll certainly protect you while you excavate Poseidon."

"And the share of One Piece?"

"Fifty-fifty."

"Good."

Both men then nodded in an agreement (Victor not wanting to shake his hand), and already at that moment, both men were thinking about how to swindle the other out of their share of One Piece.

* * *

A new alliance formed...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	44. The City of Lost Memories

The Straw Hats landing on the Isles...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**44: The City of Lost Memories**

_"Luffy! You have to calm down!"_

_Luffy broke free from Zoro's grip and ran towards the front of the ship, rage clearly stamped on his face._

_"We've already told you that they're gone!" yelled Sanji._

_Luffy stopped at the front of the ship and looked to see the silhouette of Victor's ship in the distance. Letting out a grunt of rage, he turned towards his crew and said, "We have to catch up to them! Use Coup de Burst to get us closer!"_

_Usopp, who was clearly annoyed, said, "I already told you, we used up so much cola with the Gaon Cannon that we don't have enough to use Coup de Burst! For now, this is the fastest the ship will go!"_

_Luffy sat down in anger and tried to vent his frustration. "That was Victor on the ship," Luffy said to his crew in a somewhat defeated tone, "but that giant he was riding on…I think he was a part of Blackbeard's crew…"_

_"You sure?" asked Nami._

_Boa nodded and answered for Luffy. "At the Battle of Marineford, Blackbeard made an unexpected appearance with several Level Six Impel Down prisoners, the most obvious of which was Colossal Battleship San Juan Wolf, who had the ship on his back."_

_"Were there other people on the ship who were a part of Blackbeard's crew?" asked a serious Zoro._

_"I don't know…" Luffy said._

_"You have to try and remember."_

_"I DON'T KNOW!" he yelled, slamming his fist on the ground, snapping everyone to his attention. "I was nearly unconscious at this point, and I barely recognized anyone at the battle anyways; I only recognized Wolf because of his size!"_

_He seemed to control his anger within a few seconds, before he quietly said, "I only got one brief look at the crew before Victor kicked me back, and I might have seen a familiar face, but I'm not sure…I didn't get a good look at them to begin with."_

__

Sanji slumped down on the deck and rubbed his head. "So what does it all mean then?"

"It looks like he was probably able to get Blackbeard's crew to switch sides," Hancock stated, "which probably meant something happened to Blackbeard."

_Luffy snapped up and asked her, "You think he was able to capture him for his devil fruit?"_

_Hancock shrugged. "That would be my guess. He did control an incredibly powerful devil fruit, and if he was able to take Blackbeard's crew, he must have planned something out. It's amazing how far he thought ahead…"_

_Sanji took a puff of his cigarette and finally asked, "So what now Captain?"_

_After a few seconds, Luffy stood up, and looked at his crew with a big grin on his face. "We go after the bastard and kick his ass!"_

_"Now that seems more like you…" Nami said with a sigh of relief._

_The crew cheered in seeming agreement with this statement._

— — —

The _Thousand Sunny_ arrived at the Vespian Isles in what seemed to be a little too long for Captain Straw Hat Luffy (when in reality it was the early afternoon), who, despite his anger earlier, seemed to accept the information he had gathered and calmed down, now intent on going to this new island for an adventure and chance to fight Victor (a prospect which made him extremely happy).

Following the general noise and volume of people, Nami sent the ship to the Isle that was home to Sylar City, the biggest city on the Isles. They were able to dock their ship without any hassle, and before the crew knew it, they were on solid ground again. Nami looked at her log pose.

"It seems like it takes a day and a half to log this island," she said. "I guess that means we're gonna be spending some time here."

"Day and a half?" Zoro seemed to complain. "It'll only take half a day to find and kick Victor's ass."

"Yeah, whatever…" sighed Nami, putting her hand to her head.

As soon as the crew entered the city, it was obvious that it was alive with energy and people, and seemed to remind the Straw Hat's of the city of Rainbase back at Alabasta. Luffy seemed to look around with excitement in his face, as he could smell the food the vendors were selling.

Nami looked around at the city and commented, "I doubt Victor would be hiding out in such a flashy place, so I guess it would be okay if we relaxed for a bit and got some supplies for the ship."

"I'll get some ingredients and food," Sanji said.

"I'm gonna go check out what kind of equipment they have," said Usopp.

"I don't have any money, so I guess I'll just wander," commented Zoro.

They all looked to where Luffy was supposed to be, and saw that he was no longer there. Hancock seemed aghast at this, and immediately went into panic.

"Where did he go?" she demanded.

Zoro sighed and said, "The fool probably couldn't contain himself anymore. The kid's so unpredictable that he can be angry just an hour or so ago, and now he was practically buzzing with excitement."

"I have to go find him!" Hancock said, rushing away from the group and looking through the crowds of people.

Sanji dropped his finished cigarette and said, "They'll be fine; they can handle themselves. Let's just relax and get some supplies for a bit before we really get down to business."

Nami looked behind her to see all the people and said to the crew, "Just be sure to go back to the ship when you're done."

They all nodded and waved goodbye, walking their separate ways.

Shaking her head and looking down, Nami simply said, "Idiots…"

— — —

Spurred on by the smell of food and sound of excitement, Luffy found that he couldn't hold himself back any longer. While his crew was talking amongst themselves, he stretched his arm towards the closest building and shot away, leaving them in confusion.

He didn't have much money on him, but that didn't stop him from taking in the sights and occasionally stealing food away from people eating outdoors when he could (they didn't notice the stretching arm at first, and when they did, it was too late). He looked around and saw a truly spectacular city.

Luffy guessed he was currently in the commercial area of the city (which indeed took up most of the city), as evidenced by the dozens of buildings surrounding him and several street vendors trying to sell him the newest thing. Luffy paid no mind to this as he wandered aimlessly throughout the city, having a blank expression on his face, but still taking in all the buildings and people around him.

When he caught a particularly interesting smell, he rushed over towards it only to find a restaurant. He barged in and demanded food, but as soon as the people working there found out he had no money on him, they quickly kicked him out. Usually before they did, he tried to steal someone's food nearby via stretching, but he was usually stopped and forced out by security of some sort, and he continued his journey with disappointment.

Finally, Luffy wandered so much that he soon found the crowds to be thinning. He looked around and no longer saw as many shops and restaurants and vendors, but he looked in the distance and saw some kind of big building surrounded by a massive fence with guards surrounding it.

"Reminds me of Fishman Island…" Luffy trailed off, before turning his head and walking the other way.

The smells of Sylar City only enticed him and made his stomach growl, and when he realized he was on the outskirts of town, his hunger got the better of him. His stomach rumbled loudly and Luffy looked around desperately, hoping for some real food.

He looked up to see that not too far, there was a large stone bridge, connecting this part of the island to another, and on the other side of the island, there was a large forest, and it seemed to be teeming with wildlife.

Luffy walked across the bridge, trying to ignore his grumbling stomach, when halfway across, he noticed a large boar wandering on the edge of the massive-looking forest isle and mindlessly eating at some grass. Luffy's brain immediately went off, and before he knew it, he began to sprint towards the animal with only food in his mind.

"Food!" he yelled while running across the bridge, pushing the random people who were also crossing the bridge aside.

The boar looked up and saw the strange sight of a half-maddened Luffy running towards him and immediately sensed the danger. Quickly turning around, he rushed back into the forest letting out a squeal of fright.

"Come back!" Luffy shouted desperately. "I only want to eat you!"

He crashed headlong into the forest and before he knew it, he was running blindly through it, trying to chase the boar as quickly as he could. The boar—unfortunately for Luffy—knew more about the terrain than he did, and as such, he was able to easily outmaneuver the tiring Luffy.

Luffy wasn't about to give up, however, as he still charged at the boar, spurred by rapidly increasing hunger pangs. After a few minutes of chasing, the boar hung a quick right and Luffy followed through the increased foliage. He eventually emerged to see a small square of no trees and in the middle was a house with a large group of animals held in a pen at the side.

He slowed to a walk as he panted heavily, looking around and saw pigs, chickens, and boars all inside the pen and while still in his half-crazed state, he walked towards them with his tongue lolling out as he hungrily licked his lips.

Right before he could get to the edge of the pen, however, someone jumped off of the roof of the house and stepped on Luffy's chest, causing him to grunt in surprise. He hit the ground with a thud and he looked up to see a young woman holding a rifle to his head.

"Don't move!" she ordered.

"Food?" Luffy asked in a somewhat shocked state.

The woman didn't seem amused as she kept her gun trained on Luffy. "I said don't move! Why are you here anyways? If you're messengers from Kaido, tell him that we'll have his money soon enough and that he doesn't even have the right to tax us for our land here!"

"Kaido?" Luffy said in a confused tone. "No, I'm Monkey D. Luffy. Nice to meet you."

Despite this new information, the woman didn't let her guard down as she said, "Not from Kaido, eh? Then why are you poking around our farm then?"

"I was just chasing that boar to eat," Luffy said, pointing to the scared boar that was close to the woman's legs.

She looked and asked, "Penelope? Why would you want to eat her?"

"Because I'm hungry…"

The woman was about to say something, when someone put a hand on her shoulder and she looked back. Luffy looked and saw a young man who was around five-nine with a slim body and had brown spiked hair. He looked at the woman and shook his head. Then, taking out a small notebook, he jotted something down and ripped off the page, handing it to her.

She read it and then with a sigh, stepped off of Luffy's chest and took her gun away from his head. Luffy looked at the man and said, "Thanks."

He simply nodded and held his hand out to help Luffy up. Luffy looked at the woman and saw that she too was young, maybe in her early twenties, who was around five-eight and had incredibly long straight brown hair going down her entire back. She dressed very modestly with a simple green baggy shirt and loose-fitting jeans.

The man wrote something down on his pad again and ripped it off, handing it to the woman. She read it, and then looked at Luffy.

"Sorry about that," she said with somewhat of a forced voice. "I just get somewhat protective of where I live and sometimes overreact."

"Don't mention it," Luffy said with a grin.

"I'm Julia," she said. She motioned to the man behind her and said, "And he's Ridge Carrison; we're married and own this here plot of land."

The man, apparently named Ridge, nodded at Luffy, who nodded back.

"He says he wants to know what you want and why you're here," continued Julia.

Luffy took a second to answer. "Well, I was just in the city there, when I suddenly got really hungry and saw your boar Penelope there on the outskirts of the forest, and, letting my stomach take over my brain, I decided to chase it."

Ridge seemed amused by this, and he wrote something else down, handing it to Julia.

"He says if you're hungry," she read, "all you needed to do was ask; we have some great food here."

Finally, Luffy felt complied to ask, "Why are you reading what he's saying?"

Julia gave a small chuckle and explained. "That's 'cause Ridge here is a deaf-mute."

"Deaf-mute?"

"It means he was deaf since birth, and because of that, he could never talk. Don't worry though, he can read lips and write perfectly."

"Oh…" Luffy said, nodding slightly.

Ridge motioned Luffy to come in, as Julia smiled at him and said, "Come on in, I'll make something nice for you to eat."

Luffy's stomach gave another large growl, and before he knew it, he was compelled to come in.

— — —

Commodore White Chase Smoker, Captain Black Cage Hina, and Ensign Tashigi all walked through Sylar City looking around cautiously.

They had just recently landed on the Vespian Isles, following the eternal pose Sengoku gave them. Docking in Sylar City and leaving the crew behind on the ship, the three of them immediately started walking around.

"How long do you plan on wandering Smoker?" Hina called from behind him. "It's getting rather tiring."

Smoker responded bluntly. "We're checking out our surroundings first; remember, Doflamingo, Mihawk, or Victor could be anywhere in this city. It's advantageous to know the surroundings first."

Hina sighed. "The strategist at work…"

Tashigi stumbled in an attempt to keep up with their fast pace and asked, "Can we stop by some place to eat? I'm getting hungry."

After a few seconds, Smoker looked at both of the women, who seemed to be in agreement, and said, "Fine…"

They walked into the closest place (since Smoker wanted to eat quickly before resuming his duties), a small tavern with a bar and a few booths for the patrons who wanted to eat. The three quickly sat down at a booth and ordered some food.

Smoker's cigar smoked drifted upward as he looked around. "What a corrupt city," he commented. "I don't care if it's popular or not…this place is a breeding ground for pirate scum."

Hina lit a cigarette and replied, "Focus Smoker. We're here to capture the escaped Shichibukai, not to capture random no-name pirates."

Smoker seemed to grunt at this, as Tashigi chose to remain silent.

When their food arrived, they ate quickly and quietly, and after they paid their bill, they were just about to leave when they suddenly heard a disturbance that seemed to come from the bar.

"Hey, watch what you're doing Old Man! You just spilled my drink!"

The group looked to see a large bearded man who was clearly angry at someone who was sitting at the bar with his head down, not paying attention. The large man was clearly angered as he gripped the man by his collar and said, "Well, you gonna say anything? I hope you'll at least have the courtesy to pay for my drink!"

"Drunken swine," Hina commented. "Come on Smoker, let's go."

"Wait," he said, holding his arm up.

Then, quick as lightning, the man sitting grabbed the large man's arm and with a series of graceful movements, was able to throw him over his shoulder and knock him to the floor. The man landed with a grunt as the old man seemed to get up and stomp on his chest.

"You need to respect your elders," he said with a smile, stomping his foot down in a more painful manner, prompting a scream from the large man.

Hina seemed to recognize the man at that moment instantly. "Is that…" she started.

"Garp the Hero," Smoker said. "So this is what he's been reduced to since he left the Marines…"

Garp seemed to hear them as he looked up at the group. Immediately recognizing them, he sighed and said, "Oh boy…and here I was thinking I'd have a nice relaxing vacation in Sylar City, but trouble always has a way of finding me…"

* * *

The Hero appears!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	45. Connections

The other half lands. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**45: Connections**

"The Narox Drift?" asked an earnest Chopper.

Splint and Ivankov nodded.

"It's what cancelled out the power of the Sabaody's bubbles," Splint explained, lighting a cigarette. "Once in the air, the steam hardens, and that's what we're floating on now."

Brook looked around the sides of the ship and said, "And here I thought my eyes deceived me."

Taroimo wagged his tail in excitement.

"Oh wait, I have no ey—OOPH!" started Brook, attempting to finish off his joke.

At this point, Splint had enough of the entire Straw Hat crew's antics (with Brook's skeletons jokes most of all), and while he usually just tuned them out when they got like that, he decided to do something about it this time.

Before Brook could finish his joke, he appeared behind him and kicked him in the back, sending him sprawling to the floor. Not wasting time, he hopped on the fallen Brook's back and sat there, taking a puff out of his cigarette.

"Anyways," he continued through the smoke, "we're floating a good ways up right now, but don't think it'll be like that forever."

"What do you mean?" Franky asked.

Splint finished his cigarette and threw it over the edge of the ship (while still sitting on Brook), saying, "Take a look for yourself."

Robin obliged by walking towards the edge of the ship and looking over. Immediately, she recoiled.

"What is it?" Chopper asked.

"It's…"

"What? What? I can't see anything!" yelled the hapless Brook.

Meanwhile, Ivankov laughed and said, "Just prepare yourselves Candy-Boys and Girls."

"And hold onto your hats," Splint added, putting his gloved hand over his bucket hat.

"Whaddya me—"

Their ship suddenly went over the edge of the hardened steam, hung there for a second, and then went into a free-fall towards the ocean. Everyone on the ship screamed as gravity took over and the ship hit the ground with a massive thud, sending water flying up on all sides of them.

As soon as it settled down, Inazuma looked at Franky and said, "You might wanna check the ship for any damage."

He nodded and walked off, Taroimo following him.

"Phew, that was close," Brook said under Splint. "I thought I was going to die…"

After a few seconds, "…Oh wait, I already did die! Yohohoh—AGH!"

"Shut the hell up will ya?" Splint asked, shoving Brook's head down onto the deck of the ship. "All day and night with your skeleton puns gets fuckin' annoying!"

Robin let out a shaky breath and then, after regaining her composure, went to sit back down in her chair on the deck, opening her book. "So how long until we get to the Vespian Isles?" she asked.

Ivankov took the liberty of answer that question, saying, "I vould say in about a day or so, but probably a little longer."

"We'll get there when we get there," Splint added humorlessly, looking out at the vast ocean. "For now, you're pirates in the New World, and you should savor the moment."

Every Straw Hat Pirate save for Franky, who was down below (yet still looked up at that exact moment due to intuition) looked out at the glistening blue sea, the sun shining high, and what seemed to be all-around pleasant weather…

A day or so. That didn't seem to long for those who had spent their last two weeks or so separated from their crew and trying to get back together again…

— — —

It seemed like good luck was with the group, as their ship caught a good wind early, sending them to their destination faster than anticipated. Chopper accounted it to luck, but Splint said nothing came down to luck.

Regardless of what it was, they were able to reach their destination in half a day (going throughout the morning without stopping) and in the late-afternoon of the same day of the Narox Drift, they caught their first sight of the Vespian Isles.

Their luck with the wind, however, came at a price.

Due to their ship totally relying on the good wind to take the ship, it unfortunately meant that they had to follow the route that was most advantageous in regards to the wind, and as a result, the winds carried them to the other side of the Vespian Isles that the Straw Hats were on. In short, they were the farthest they could be to Sylar City.

"Don't be down," Ivankov said to them, trying to cheer them up. "That city is boring anyvay, too full of normal non-okamas!"

Splint gave a small chuckle and replied, "Don't listen to the okama freak."

"Vhat vas that?" Ivankov yelled, running towards Splint.

He coolly moved to the side and held his foot out, tripping Ivankov and sending him out of the picture temporarily.

"Although he does have some merit to that statement. Sylar City is full of corruption and greed and far too many people. What's more, you don't even know if your crew is in the city or not, so try and cheer up, eh?"

The group remained silent as Splint had to abandon them to avoid the angry Ivankov chasing after him…

They docked their ship on a small port at the isle on the opposite end of Sylar City. It was a town by the name of Borean, and—to its credit—seemed to be doing pretty well for itself. While it wasn't on the scale of Sylar City, it had its own unique charm and personality to it.

The crew got off of the ship as Franky cracked his neck and stretched his arms. "Nngh! This place looks pretty nice, but we don't have the luxury to be relaxing…I wonder where we should start."

Splint lit a cigarette and said to the group, "It's somewhat lucky we landed in Borean, 'cause I happen to know just the place where we can get some information."

Robin cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. "Where?"

Splint looked at Ivankov and Inazuma, as if for some kind of approval. "Think we should take 'em there?"

Inazuma shrugged indifferently. "He does seem like the fastest way to get what we need."

"I think these Candy-Boys can handle it," Ivankov agreed.

The Straw Hats looked at each with confusion on their faces. Finally, Chopper ventured a question. "Who?"

Splint took a long puff on his cigarette before exhaling, answering, "We'll take you to old Beau's place; he'll getcha everything you need to find your crew."

"Beau?" inquired Brook.

"Beau Daewn," Inazuma answered, taking a sip of his wine. "He lives on the outskirts of town…he's known as the Borean Town Recluse."

Franky shook his head and said, "How come I have a feeling this guy's gonna be a weirdo as well?"

"Coming from the robot with his dog, a reindeer, a woman with twenty arms, and a fucking skeleton, that's pretty judgmental," replied Splint.

Everyone kept quiet after that statement.

Ivankov motioned towards the town and said, "Come on, ve'll lead you in the right direction, but don't expect us to stick around once you get in there."

They all looked at Ivankov with the same confusion on their face. Splint caught this and answered their question.

"He's a bit of an…abrasive fellow," he said. "The kind that's not to pleasant to be around, but regardless, if there's anyone nearby who can get you started to finding the rest of the Straw Hat Crew, it's him."

"I'm no so sure about this," Chopper said in a quiet voice.

Splint smiled and said, "Or you can go wandering around all of the isles in hopes of finding something. Your choice."

That sentence seemed to end all opposition, as they followed Ivankov, Splint, and Inazuma toward the Borean Town, not knowing what to expect from this Beau Daewn.

— — —

The Borean Town Recluse was a proper title, all right.

Beau's house was a small log-cabin (that appeared to be a single room) located at the top of the hills that seemed to decorate the outside of the town of Borean. The first thing they noticed about it was the yellow dead grass surrounding his house in a square patch, while the rest of the hill was a rolling green, beautiful to look at.

But the cabin was anything but beautiful.

"It may not be beautiful," Ivankov said when Robin made that statement, "but the old recluse here would call it BEAUtiful!"

Everyone got the joke, but no one laughed.

Ivankov cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I hope you get the information you need, but we're all going to go back to Borean."

"Got any advice?" asked Franky. He held up his hand and revealed a bottle of alcohol and finished, "Other than offering him this, I mean?"

Splint winked at them and said, "Tell 'im we sent you."

With that, the three revolutionaries left Robin, Chopper, Franky (and Taroimo), and Brook standing at the door of the tiny adobe of Beau Daewn, completely clueless, but ready to try anything at this point.

"I suppose we should knock," Robin said, producing a hand that appeared on the door, which quickly rapped at the door three times in succession.

After several seconds, they tried it again, but when nothing happened, they decided to risk it and try to open the door. Robin's extra arm gripped the doorknob and slowly opened it. Franky was the first to venture close, as he appeared in the open space the door created (while still technically outside) and saw only darkness.

"Hello?" he called. "Anyone th—WHOA!"

Franky was cut off as a bottle flew towards him and hit the cabin's inside wall, not a foot away from Franky's face, shattering in an instant.

"The fuck is there?" they heard a voice call.

Franky was away from the door by that time, and Robin decided to answer. "Uh…we've come because we heard you can help us out."

After a few seconds of silence, the voice ran out again. "You got booze on ya?"

Franky held up the bottle of alcohol and showed it through the door. "Yeah…"

A few more seconds of silence. "Come on in then."

The group cautiously stepped through the door and saw what they expected, a bare one-room cabin with only a few spare pictures on the wall, a small kitchen, a little place for a bed, and in the middle a table which Beau seemed to be sitting in with a bottle of rum on it and a half-empty glass in his hand. The only thing that made this place unique was that all the walls of the cabin were lined with several different colored boxes; too many of them in his house to count.

They adjusted to the poor light quickly and saw what Beau looked like. He looked to be at least in his late-fifties, early-sixties. He was the very picture of the word grizzled, as he had a leathery, creased face with a large scar running horizontally down his right cheek. He had gray, unkempt hair that covered his forehead and gray scruff becoming the makings of a beard, but his most distinguishing features were his glasses (which was about the only civilized-looking thing about him).

"Come on in ya bastards!" Beau yelled, apparently impatient. "When I say come in, I mean come the fuck in!"

The Straw Hats obliged and scurried in, closing the door behind them. Beau finished the shot of rum in his hand and asked, "First thing's first, you want any information, you gotta show me the goods."

Franky obliged by putting the bottle of alcohol on Beau's table. He grabbed it and inspected it, adjusting his glasses. "1494 AOS, eh?" he said. "Good year for alcohol, that's for sure."

"Are we good then?" Robin asked.

Beau nodded his head and motioned for them to sit, which they did. He quickly opened the bottle and poured himself a shot, downing it in one shot. Letting out a satisfied breath, he said:

"So who exactly are you, and who sent you?"

"We're just some pirates trying to find our crew," Brook answered, and, remembering what Splint said, "and Ivankov, Inazuma, and Splint sent us."

"Splint?" Beau repeated. "That bastard actually had the stones to set foot back in this town?"

"Excuse me?" said Chopper.

Beau leaned back a little in his chair and explained. "That bastard owes me a shitload of money he lost while gambling with me. So what, did he send you as his lackeys to try and settle his debt with interest?"

"No, no," Robin quickly stated. "True, we were suggested to you by Splint, but our reasons for being here are completely different. You see, we got separated from our crew and heard they landed on the Vespian Isles, but since this is such a big place, we didn't know where to start, so we figured maybe you had some sort of connections to help us out."

Beau was silent for a while, before finally asking the group, "Have you ever heard of a man by the name of Kaido?"

"You mean the Yonko?" asked Franky. "Yeah, of course we have, why do you ask?"

Beau cracked a smile and pointed to his table in a downward motion. "Because he's right here on this very island, right smack dab in the middle of it all on the Hydrox Isle."

"Kaido's here?" asked a clearly shocked Robin. "Why?"

"Hell if I know," Beau grunted, "I guess the deadlock between him, Shanks, and Big Mom got him pretty bored—even with the death of Whitebeard—and he's been here ever since he nearly fought with Shanks."

The group remained silent. "So what does that have to do with us?" Chopper inquired.

Beau poured himself another shot of alcohol and downed it in one gulp. "Everything fuckin' matters on this island Reindeer-Boy. You imagine someone like Kaido gives a fuck about any of us commoners just trying to live our lives on this here island?"

"I'd suppose not," Franky said, as Taroimo seemed to cower against his leg in fear.

Beau let out a chuckle and answered his own question. "Of-fucking-course not! That Kaido's one coldhearted mother and he thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants here. Do you imagine the people on here would just take that lying down?"

Everyone shook their head. Beau leaned in a little closer.

"How do you think fuckers like Splint and his revolutionary buddies know me?" he asked. "It's because I'm in the same business as them."

"What do you mean?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you mother-fuckers?" asked Beau gruffly, taking another shot. "The Vespian Isle's got its own little revolutionary group going on, and we plan on overthrowing Kaido to take back what was once ours."

"And you're a part of that group?" inquired Brook.

"A part of?" repeated a laughing Beau. "Hell, I'm the second-in-command!"

"Somehow I find that hard to believe," Franky muttered under his breath.

"Well believe what you want there Speedo," he said, glaring at Franky. "But it's the truth, and I'd be willing to help you, but for a price."

"What's that?"

Pouring himself another glass, Beau finally said, "If you guys know Splint and he sent you to me, that must mean he respects you on some level, and that ain't to be taken lightly, especially from him. What I'm asking for, my friends, is that you help us out in our little coup d'etat."

"Help how?" asked Robin.

Beau took a quick shot and replied, "Just help with a bit of the muscle really. Trafficking some weapons, sending messages, things of that sort. You'll be like our errand boys."

"Charming…" muttered Brook.

"You know, the good part about helping us," Beau added slyly, "is that working with us gets you around the island, if you know what I mean, so by helping us, your chances of finding your friends increase exponentially."

After a few seconds, the group looked at each other, and seemed to come to consensus just by looking at each other. Robin vouched for them as she nodded.

"We'll do it."

Beau's eyes lit up. "Excellent!"

"So who's the leader of this rebellion?" Franky felt forced to ask.

Beau finished off his drink and smiled at the entire group. "Just an interesting fellow by the name of Ridge Carrison…"

— — —

The wind blew harshly as Ivankov, Inazuma, and Splint got back to Borean Town. After taking care of some remaining business on the Vespian Isles, they went to their docked ship. There, they saw their men bringing fresh supplies up to the ship in a hurried manner. The group walked up to them and stopped.

"Seems like they're working hard," Inazuma commented.

"Indeed," Ivankov replied. "They know we're in a hurry."

After a few seconds of silence, Ivankov finally said, "Well, it's time to get going."

Inazuma and Ivankov both began walking up the board to the ship while Splint stayed motionless. "I don't like this one bit," he said to the two, who stopped mid-way to look back.

"It doesn't matter what you like, it's what needs to be done," Inazuma retorted. "You have no say in the matter, unfortunately."

Splint took a drag on his cigarette before saying absent-mindedly, "Yeah, but I still think it's a shit thing to do."

"Don't vorry about them!" said Ivankov. "We pointed them into the right direction and given them what they needed, and now they're fully capable of taking care of themselves. Our job's done!"

"Now come on, before the weather gets any worse!" urged Inazuma.

"Yeah…give me a second," Splint said, finishing off his cigarette and dropping it to the ground, stepping on it without a thought in the world.

He stared at the hills that seemed to span endlessly on this particular isle, and before he knew it, he muttered, "Good luck guys…"

With that, he turned around and boarded the ship. It only took them a few minutes to take off, and leave the Vespian Isles for good.

* * *

Disappearing...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	46. The Thunder Starts Rolling

Musings of a fallen King. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**46: The Thunder Starts Rolling**

_Around 25 years ago at the Kingdom of Korski, there was a king who was both renowned and feared by his people. He had accomplished such a polarizing feat in two ways._

_The first was that he was the one who led his original followers to the unused plot of land located at Morei Island in the Grand Line and subsequently led to the creation of the Kingdom of Korski (how he did it will be understood later), making the people obviously elect him as the leader and king of the new land._

_He was feared, however, because of what he did with his new powers._

_He was—by no stretch of the imagination—a loving compassionate figure; this was quite the contrary in fact. He was seen to rule with an iron fist over the entire Korski Kingdom and never showed a shred of regret for what he did. He was constantly shown to put his own interests before the peoples, and was seen on numerous occasions making deals with greedy businesses for Morei Island's rich resources. _

_Despite his shortcomings, the citizens who originally followed the King still kept their faith in him, simply saying that without this man, they would be living in a lawless pirate society which seemed to be taking the entire world by storm at that point. Due to this, he there was never a coup to take over and the King stayed in power._

_The same could hardly be said when the King wanted to expand his reach over several other islands._

_The King valued military might over most things, and as a result, he was able to attack every island within Morei's vicinity and to be quite honest, he did it with ease. The neighboring islands didn't stand a chance against the King's battle-hardened warriors. When he did extend his rule, the Kingdom of Korski expanded with it, integrating all of the islanders he had taken over into his own society._

_Naturally, the King was just as harsh on them as he was to his own people. Yet this was all nothing to what he eventually did._

_After several military campaigns of conquest, the King had found that he had spread the Kingdom too thin, and decided he needed to modernize every island under his control (lest other kingdoms take it away from him). Yet, this all came in the midst of a massive famine as well, so naturally, there were precautions that had to be taken._

_He forced every citizen he could to go into some kind of weapons or military factory to churn out new technology to equip his army with. In order to deal with the food shortages, he pushed the farmers to the edge and threatened them with death if they didn't produce, and, when they didn't do as well as he wanted, the King kept true to his promise._

_At this point in his life, the King (now known as the Corrupt King by most) had grown increasingly paranoid of losing his power. He began to single out his most trusted advisors and sentenced them to death, as well as execute any citizen that spoke out against him and the Kingdom (and at this point there were quite a few)._

_He took this holocaust to every island under his rule and executed anyone he felt like, which would later become known as the Great Purification, where more than half of the entire Kingdom's citizens died either through execution, overwork, or both._

_The Corrupt King didn't mind such trivial things._

_Eventually, the Marines caught wind of such massacres, and went to put an end to the Korski Kingdom once and for all, invading the capitol and defeating the King's military, capturing him. He showed no regrets or remorse._

_Due to his heinous crimes, the Marines decided to simply erase them from history, compensate the survivors of the Great Purification, and lock the Corrupt King up in Impel Down's level six, where no one would ever find him, and the world would forget about his existence with time._

_The King took this information well, and all while not showing any remorse…_

— — —

Abalo Pizarro often found that when he did mindless and menial tasks for a while, his memory drifted to that of the past

_("and what great times they were…")_

where he would look back on his great (and proud) history of how he became the most feared leader in history, a title which to this day, has not been taken away from him.

He was less neurotic now than he was 25 years ago; spending that much time at Impel Down made sure of that, and to any random passerby, Pizarro looked like a laid-back old man (albeit with an intimidating face). He didn't mind so much being at Impel Down, but when Blackbeard came and promised the entire level six that whoever made it out was a free man, Pizarro found that he couldn't resist.

Naturally, he took advantage of his situation to send other prisoners to Magellan, while he went unnoticed, and at the end of it all, only he and a handful of others were accepted into Blackbeard's crew. Yet alas, such an alliance wouldn't last, as Tobias the Dreamer made sure of.

It didn't bother Corrupt King Abalo Pizarro much, as he simply threw his allegiance to Victor (different leader, same game).

Pizarro's dreams, as it turned out, were that of restoring the former glory of Korski Kingdom by creating a new empire, one which he would be ruler of again. Pizarro was not stupid, and he knew that in order to do this, he needed money, and as it turned out, Victor's goal led him to the largest amount of money he could ever want.

One Piece.

Victor seemed competent in Pizarro's mind and looked as if he knew what he was doing, and currently, it was Pizarro's best shot at getting to the fabled treasure so he could get his share and go off on his own with his own dreams of conquest.

Of course, if a new and better leader came along, he would drop Victor in a heartbeat.

Currently, Victor was utilizing Pizarro's skills to the fullest in order to revive Poseidon, one of the most powerful engines of destruction the world had ever seen, and Pizarro had to give Victor some compliments on that. He knew what he had and how to use it.

When Pizarro was in his youth (before the Korski Kingdom), he had stumbled upon a devil fruit, and, like any hotheaded youngster, ate it in hopes of getting something good. It was known as the Drill-Drill Fruit, and came to him in the form of drills.

It was similar to Inazuma's Snip-Snip Fruit in nature, except it was exponentially more powerful due to the spinning factors of drills. He had utilized this power to its fullest in the past (creating the Korski Kingdom most prominently) and now he found that he was under Victor's orders to drill into the hard bedrock underneath them, and make it so that they can get to Poseidon. Pizarro didn't mind the work (and in fact welcomed it in the beginning) but like anything, after a while of doing something over and over, Pizarro began to go back into his days of the past.

To those dark days of the Corrupt King, days in which he savored every second in…

— — —

Victor D. Capere found that things were going perfectly, and as it turned out, right on schedule.

It was mere child's play for him to fool the greedy (albeit powerful) Kaido and get him to his side, offering his protection from anyone (but most prominently the Straw Hats) on the Vespian Isles.

This was the first crucial part of Victor's plan. Without protection, nothing else could be done, and certainly having Kaido's Plague Pirates as protection warranted things to be going along well.

Without having to worry about getting attacked on the Hydrox Isle, Victor found that he could commit his entire force to the excavation. While Pizarro was an excellent driller and burrower, Victor knew he couldn't do it alone, and fortunately, he had plenty of men to spare.

The Blade, Power, and Zoan Corps all lent a hand to assisting Pizarro and assisting him in the digging. Due to Pizarro's unique power, he was able to drill pathways underground for his men to go through to aid wherever they needed, which turned out to make things go much quicker than before.

The only exception to the rule of work was that of the Corps of Kings (save for Pizarro), who were free to do whatever they pleased. After the treaty with Kaido, San Juan Wolf was able to get into Duma Village and have a much needed rest. Victor committed a small force of men to…separate the ship on Wolf's back, a task which was not easy, but his men promised it would be done in time.

Wolf at first protested such a change (he had grown quite attached to carrying a crew around again), but all it took were a few words from Victor to wipe away any illusion Wolf had of keeping the ship.

_"I don't blame you for not wanting part with the ship," he had said, "but surely you understand that you have a bigger purpose than that right now. Currently, you're the only man large enough to carry Poseidon once it gets excavated, and you won't be able to do it with a ship on your back."_

_Wolf simply looked at Victor with sadness on his face. Victor tried to cheer and encourage him (the less he fought this process the better)._

_"I promise that once our goals are met, we can get you a new ship to put on your back, and you can have your own crew to carry around again, just like the old times."_

Wolf was a simpleton, and Victor found that he was easy to fool. He agreed with a smile when he said that, and that was the end of it. Wolf would have maybe a day of rest at most (at least by Victor's estimate) before he would be needed to get the ship into the ocean.

Only when it was in the ship would Victor be able to commence the final act of his plan on the Vespian Isles: destroy.

Poseidon was regarded as a weapon of legend and what kind of person would Victor be if he didn't…test it on the closest target that presents itself? Besides, Victor knew that if the Straw Hats or any other opposition looking for him were on the island, he could wipe them all out with one fell swoop.

Easy prey…

This was Victor's plan, at least, and he named it Operation Rolling Thunder, as the Vespians wouldn't even know what hit them when it started. He found, however, that the sooner he could apply it, the better, for the good of his ambitions as a whole. Of course, this all now depended on the speed of the diggers and whether his hunch about the Straw Hats was correct or not…

With the little time he had with Kaido, Victor used his keen sense to get what was going on with the Yonko. The first few things were the obvious ones. Kaido was always surrounded by pirates at all times. Victor theorized that this was for protection purposes

It turned out to be correct, as Kaido didn't do much by himself. Rather, he always moved with his men at his side, looking ready to fight whenever necessary. Victor furthermore learned of Kaido's numbers and overall power, which he found to be deadly by Yonko standards, but nothing that Victor couldn't handle if things got out of hand.

The more acute side of Victor found, however, that despite reports of Kaido's terror on islands he occupied weren't as bad as they were portrayed. Mostly, Kaido just sat and ate and drank and slept and rapped out orders to his men, but that was all. There were no raids, no plundering, nothing.

There were exceptions of course, as Kaido did send his men out to get supplies, and while Victor imagined they just took it, it appeared as if they didn't cause a fuss amongst the villagers. Rather, they just took what they went and got back.

Victor found that he couldn't blame Kaido for such a folly, though, as he also let his own men go and get whatever supplies they needed. While this didn't bother him much, what did concern him was that the Corps of Kings was let loose, and there was no telling what they would do.

Sure, Tobias would be fine, but what about someone like Vendrix…

He knew he couldn't stop them, but he only left them with a warning

_("don't attract any attention to yourselves, you hear?")_

and he had to leave it at that. Even if they did cause some form of destruction, Victor didn't think it to be too much a big deal, as they could easily handle anything they wanted now with Kaido on their side, Straw Hats included.

So on the Hydrox Isles Victor sat and waited, the plans were made, orders were brought out, actions were being done, and things were moving along smoothly. There was nothing the leader could do at this point but wait, and when the time was right, to strike.

For now, he simply sat, observing how the Plague Pirates presented themselves and mentally remembering anything and everything that could be used in the future. Victor figured that soon he would leave to his own base soon and eat, as his growling stomach called for him. After he ate, he would sleep and rest up for the events to come.

At least for a little while.

* * *

Preparations are being made, and with each second destruction comes closer...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	47. Tussle at the Tavern

The wandering swordsman with no sense of direction...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**47: Tussle at the Tavern**

For the second time in such a short while, Roronoa Zoro once again found himself wandering around a large commercial area with almost no money in his pocket. He simply strode down the crowded streets with his hands in his pockets, his earrings jingling, his swords at his side, and a blank expression on his face.

His rational side argued that he should have stayed on the _Thousand Sunny_ to guard it if he didn't need to get any supplies (such ventures were usually taken up by Sanji, Chopper, and Usopp), but there was a more primitive side of him that decided to leave everything up to chance and he might have a chance to get a drink somewhere.

He dug deep into his pocket and only found a few coins. He counted the berries up and muttered, "500 berries…only enough for one cheap drink…"

Sighing and shoving the money back into his pocket, he continued onward, scanning the sides of the streets in hopes of finding a good bar. Finally, he stopped and found a small tavern that looked suitable (although suitable by Zoro's standards meant they served alcohol for 500 berries).

He strolled nonchalantly into the bar to see it fairly packed, no one paying any particular attention to him. Not paying them any mind either, Zoro walked up to the bar and sat down, a few empty seats on both sides of him. He slammed his 500 berries on the table and demanded from the bartender to get whatever they could. Shooting him a sour glare, the bartender turned around to see what his cheapest alcohol was.

Didn't take the bartender long to find a bottle, and he poured Zoro a glass, reminding him that he only paid for _one_ drink, so he better savor it. Zoro kept that in mind as he took a sip, not thinking of much in particular. Then, the doors busted wide open and everyone (Zoro included) looked to see who just entered.

In, two men walked, looking outlandish to be sure, but otherwise, Zoro didn't pay them much heed, as he turned back and took another sip of his drink. The two men walked over to the bar and sat right next to Zoro, ordering drinks.

One man (who seemed like he was half-awake to Zoro), said to the other, "Let's make this quick, now. Don't want to be caught sneakin' out for too long."

The other snickered at this. "Kikikiki! Don't worry about it, old Victor won't even know we're gone."

_"Victor?" _Zoro immediately thought, taking another sip of his drink and decided to listen intently to their conversation.

The sleepy man responded, "Regardless, just going out for a drink seems pretty trivial, don't you think Vendrix?"

The other man, apparently named Vendrix, put his arm in a joking way around the sleepy man's neck. "Relax! Like I just said, that old fucker Victor doesn't…fucking…care what we do, so just bear with me Daron and enjoy a drink to calm your nerves. The way this whole operation's going, we won't be able to have a nice drink for a long time."

_"Operation?" _The word mulled over in Zoro's mind as he wordlessly took another sip. _"The hell are they talking about?"_

The sleepy man named Daron shook his head. "I don't drink anything alcoholic. If I start, I know I won't stop, and when I drink a lot, I get drunk, and when I get drunk, I get pretty mean."

"You, mean? Kikikiki!" Vendrix laughed. "I ain't seen you doin' nothing but sleep or look tired. I can't imagine you mean."

"And I can't imagine you being sane, but that's just an opinion," Daron shot back. "Anyways, the longer we're out here, the longer we risk screwing up the mission, so let's just finish our drinks and go."

_"Seems like there's only one way…"_ the swordsman thought.

He gulped down the rest of his drink and tapped Daron on the shoulder. "Excuse me?"

Daron looked with a look of sleepy confusion, but that expression was soon replaced with surprise when Zoro suddenly brought his glass down on the side of Daron's head with resounding force, causing it to break almost instantly. Daron gripped the side of his head as he tumbled onto the floor, everyone in the bar looking at the two now.

"What the fuck?" he asked, grabbing his head, his sleepy monotone now replaced with anger.

Vendrix, on the other hand, kept in his seat and looked rather amused. "He got you pretty good there Daron, kikikiki!"

Daron got to his feet now, blood flowing down his head, staring at Zoro angrily. "What the fuck did I do to you?" he barked.

"Nothing yet, but I'm afraid your captain's done something to my captain," Zoro coolly responded. "So now I'm gonna take you and your buddy and force you to tell me where Victor's hanging out!"

Daron gave a humorless laugh as he raised his fists to fight. "I'd like to see you try, asshole!"

He rushed at Zoro and threw a quick left jab, which Zoro barely had time to dodge. _"Fast…" _he thought as he saw Daron's fist flying inches from his face.

Zoro quickly pulled out one of his swords and went to defend himself as Daron kept throwing blows at him. After a series of quick dodges, Zoro was able to thrust his sword towards Daron's head, but he quickly side-stepped it and got away with only a dangerous slash on his cheek, sending blood flowing down.

Naturally, most of the patrons left the bar, and only the rowdy few kept watching, cheering the two on, but not interfering themselves. Finally, Daron was able to fake Zoro out and deliver a quick smash to his gut, sending the air flying out of his body. Zoro gripped his stomach and stumbled back a little bit.

If he didn't get hit and preoccupied on his pain, he would have noticed Vendrix jumping on the bar and running to get behind Zoro, his bone-bladed knife clutched in one of his hands. Vendrix let out a large chuckle as he leapt off of the bar to dig his knife into Zoro's back.

He would have killed Zoro, too, had someone not intervened and threw a massive punch to the side of Vendrix's face, sending him flying sideways towards the tables and landing on them with a smash.

Both Zoro and Daron looked to see Monkey D. Garp standing there, a grin present on his bearded face. "Who would have thought I'd get involved in _two_ fights in one day?"

"You fool, Garp," Hina called from their booth with Smoker and Tashigi watching. "We were supposed to let the pirates kill each other."

Zoro then immediately recognized Garp and uttered, "You're…"

Garp then rubbed the back of his head and asked earnestly, "I'm sorry sonny, but I'm afraid I don't quite remember you. Who're you again?"

Zoro made a sour face and said, "I'm a part of your grandson's crew. Remember, you tried to kill us at Water 7?"

Garp's face immediately lit up. "Oh yeah, you were that weirdo swordsman with the green hair."

Zoro scowled a little at this.

Daron went over to where Vendrix lied and helped him up. A slightly-disoriented Vendrix suddenly became abuzz with activity, breaking away from Daron and looking at Zoro and Garp and yelling profanity at them.

"You motherfuckers think you can just blindside me?" he yelled. "Well now you're gonna feel real pain, you assholes! You can fuckin' believe that!"

He was about to move when Daron took the initiative and struck Vendrix in his stomach, causing him to wince and make an audible _"Ooph!" _noise. The surprised Vendrix simply looked at Daron with a mix of rage and confusion in his face.

"You need to calm yourself down," Daron said, his sleepy monotone now back. "Victor said we can't cause any trouble, so we're gonna—"

_"FUCK WHAT VICTOR SAID! THESE BITCHES NEED TO BLEED!"_

"I don't think Victor would take too kindly to those words," replied Daron. "But if you wanna ask the big man upstairs yourself, you can do it all ya like when we get back to him, which we're doing now."

"Wait!" Zoro roared to the two. "You're going to tell me where on this island Victor's hiding out!"

Daron offered a lazy smile and said, "Sorry, but that's not gonna happen. Of course, if you insist on knowing, then you could always try to beat it out of us, but even with two-on-two, your odds look bleak. I would suggest you just leave and report back to your captain, like we will be doing shortly."

He used his thumb to wipe the blood from the slash Zoro gave him to his cheek, revealing it to be completely uninjured.

Zoro was about to move to attack, willing to risk the odds, when Garp suddenly put his arm out to stop them. "He's right; now's not the time to attack, now's the time to strategize. Nothing will get achieved by fighting these two, so just let it slide for now."

Daron smirked and said, "Wise words from such a fool…"

He and Vendrix walked towards the door as Vendrix shot one more glare back and warned, "If I ever see any of you fuckers again, then I will personally rip out your skull and bash in your brains!"

With that, they were gone, leaving Zoro with Garp and his marine friends. Almost immediately after they left, Smoker leapt into action, grabbing his jutte and using his smoke to propel himself towards Zoro, hitting him and knocking him to the ground. He landed on him and held the jutte to Zoro's chest.

"So even the Straw Hats are on this island, eh?" he asked Zoro through his cigar smoke. "What luck to finally meet you again Pirate Hunter."

Zoro simply looked at Smoker and said mockingly, "Thanks for the help back there…"

Smoker appeared slightly angered by this, and looked like he was going to strike, when Garp put his hand on Smoker's shoulder and told him to stop. Smoker looked with confusion, and Garp tried to explain.

"As said earlier, fighting now will get nothing achieved," he started.

"Fighting will achieve nothing?" an angered Smoker barked. "He's one of the pirates that's eluded me throughout the entire Grand Line, and I'm sure as hell gonna bring him in!"

Garp simply responded by throwing a massive punch to the side of Smoker's face, which, surprisingly, hit and sent him flying off of Zoro and sliding on the floor, landing a few feet away from the two.

"Commodore Smoker!" Tashigi called, getting up with Hina.

Smoker lifted his head up quickly, showing a small flow of blood down the side of his mouth. "Haki, eh?" he said with a small deep laugh. "Cheap shot, you bastard."

"Listen you _fool_," Garp exclaimed through anger, "can't you see there are more important things going on right now than arresting one pirate? Arresting him wouldn't even get you Luffy and would ultimately serve no purpose."

"You can't tell me what to do any more!" Smoker shot back, now on his feet again. "You gave up that power when you resigned from the Marines!"

"Maybe not," Garp said, cracking his knuckles as he continued, "but if you want to arrest this pirate, you'll have to go through me first."

"Commodore, you—" Tashigi started.

"Shut up Tashigi!"

Both men stared at each other intently, and after a few seconds, Smoker finally asked, "You really mean that don't you?"

Garp nodded. "I wouldn't joke about this."

"Garp's right Smoker," Hina stated. "It's not your job to arrest pirates—even one you have a vendetta again—it's your job to find the missing Shichibukai!"

Garp gave a small chuckle at that. "By time tomorrow, finding the Shichibukai will be the least of your worries."

"Stop jerking us around Old Man!" shot back Smoker.

Garp simply stood and asked, "Are you gonna let him go or will I have to stop you myself?"

Zoro looked at both men, unsure of the outcome. Finally, Smoker closed his eyes, lowered his head, and nodded slowly. "The last thing I need is to be fighting with the Marine Hero, even if it is the former one…"

Zoro breathed an inward sigh of relief, as he looked at Garp, who looked at him and smiled. "Go on now, son, you're free to go. Oh, and don't tell Luffy about this, don't want him worrying about his old grandfather now do we?"

Zoro simply nodded and began to walk towards the door. He silently passed by Smoker, who had his head down with his eyes closed. He gave one fleeting glance back to see the group of marines, and without a second thought, walked through the door and back into the city of Sylar to get back to the _Thousand Sunny_.

— — —

Julia Carrison—at least from Luffy's point of view—was a cook with skills on par with Sanji. After Ridge and Julia invited him in, she was able to cook up a large meal for them all to eat, and the hungry Luffy took more than he probably should have, but the couple didn't seem to mind, and in fact chuckled at it.

When the eating settled down, the three got to talking, and finally, Luffy had to ask the question he'd been wanting to ask all day. "Have you two ever heard of a man by the name of Victor Capere?"

Both Julia and Ridge looked at each other, as Julia looked back at Luffy and shook her head. "No, sorry, it doesn't ring a bell."

Ridge wrote on his notebook and ripped the page out, handing it to Luffy. It said: "The name sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't put my finger on it, sorry."

Luffy grinned and said, "That's okay. If I may ask though, where would be the best place to hide out on this island, since you both live here?"

Both Ridge and Julia looked at each other again, and Julia answered for Ridge. "Well, if you asked us, we'd say the best place where no one could find you would have to be on Hydrox Isle, but I'm willing to guess that's a long-shot for this fella."

"Why's that?" Luffy asked.

Ridge scribbled on his notebook and handed Luffy the paper. "A certain man is currently occupying the area," it said, "a Yonko by the name of Razeden Kaido. If this Victor was able to make an alliance with him, there's no doubt he'd be hiding there…but it seems highly unlikely."

"Well you don't know Victor," Luffy replied. "If Kaido is evil, then I'm sure Victor's joined up with him somehow."

"Oh he's _evil_ alright," Julia scoffed. "He's been on this island for a while—using it as a base, as it seems—and everyone's living in fear of him, or at least we normal people are."

Ridge wrote something down and Julia looked at it. She turned to Ridge and said, "You sure we can trust him with some of this information?"

Ridge pointed to Luffy and gave him a thumbs-up. Julia turned to Luffy and said, "Ridge says he has a gift to sense someone's true character, and he thinks you're trustworthy enough to tell you what's going on here. You want to know what Kaido's really like?"

Luffy nodded. Ridge slid over the page he wrote on and Luffy looked at it.

"Well," it said, "let's begin with a little town called Duma Village…"

* * *

Understanding the situation...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	48. Perpetual Planning and Preparation

Luffy at the house of rebels, learning their truth, one word at a time...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**48: Perpetual Planning and Preparation**

Luffy looked at both Julia and Ridge and asked, "So he was able to wipe out an entire village with just the flu?"

Both of them nodded solemnly.

Luffy's eyes immediately lit up as he said admiringly, "That's so cool!"

"No it's fucking not!" yelled an angry Julia, throwing a glass from the table at Luffy.

He quickly dodged and it shattered against the wall. Luffy got the message and said, "Relax, I didn't mean it in that way. I simply meant that Kaido sounds like a tough enemy."

Ridge sighed and put his hand to his face, as Julia explained, "We thought that was obvious, he is a Yonko after all. He's on par with all of the other Yonkos like Whitebeard and Big Mom."

Luffy rubbed his chin almost intelligently and stated, "It seems like Kaido is evil enough for Victor to team up with, so I'm almost willing to bet he's with him, but even if that's not the case, this Kaido sounds pretty interesting."

Both Julia and Ridge eyed Luffy with separate thoughts in each of their minds.

Despite that, Luffy's eyes still sparkled excitedly. "I wanna fight him now…"

Ridge wrote and handed the page to Luffy. "Going up against Kaido is suicide. Even if you wear protective clothing and a mask, there are other…more volatile ways for him to infect you."

"You seem to know a lot about him Mister," said Luffy with curiosity. "Why is that?"

Both Ridge and Julia exchanged glances with each other, and finally, with a nod from Ridge, Julia finally said, "Luffy, I hope you can keep a secret."

"Course I can!"

With a sigh, Julia explained to the Captain. "Well, due to the…nature of how Kaido presents himself with his mass murder and pillaging and plundering and whatnot, and the fact that the Vespian government has no spine whatsoever, the people have to decided to take it on themselves to rid themselves of this plague."

"You mean a rebellion," Luffy said very seriously.

Ridge nodded.

Julia nodded pointed to her husband. "He's been the leader of the whole operation, and while he can't speak, he's been great at establishing bases on multiple isles and getting them to communicate with one another. If it weren't for Ridge, we'd be nowhere."

Ridge seemed to blush at this.

Julia continued. "We've been working for quite a while now, organizing, getting troops, supplies, ex cetera, ex cetera, and we're almost ready. By nightfall, we're gonna stage the beginning of our attack, and by the morning, we'll have liberated all of the Vespian Isles from Kaido's tyranny."

"I've been a part of some rebellions before," continued the serious Luffy, "and I hope you're prepared to sacrifice everything to get what you want."

"We're prepared to die for this cause," Julia said, speaking for her and Ridge, who nodded, "as long as we can take Razeden Kaido with us!"

With that, Luffy stood up.

"Where are you going?" inquired Julia. "I hope it's not to report us to anyone, 'cause if that's the case, I'm afraid we can't let you leave."

Luffy walked towards the door, put his hand on the handle, and looked back at the two. "I'll be here with my crew before tonight," he said before opening the door and leaving, closing it with a thud.

Julia looked at Ridge with skepticism in her eyes, but Ridge put his arm on her shoulder and pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down.

"I hope he's trustworthy," she whispered to him, "or else we're all gonna die."

Ridge released her and wrote something down. Julia looked at it with curiosity. It said: "Don't worry about him, he's telling the truth…I can _feel_ it."

"I hope you're right about this one," she said, a bit of skepticism still left in her. She looked at the note as it went on.

"Regardless," it continued, "it's time to get things moving and tie up the last of our loose ends so we're ready."

"You sure you really wanna pull it off tonight?"

Ridge nodded and wrote again. "If Luffy is not trustworthy, then it's best to pull it off tonight anyways before anyone can stop us and if he is with us, then that's just extra strength for us."

Julia nodded and pulled Ridge in for another hug. He looked at her with confusion, but she planted a light kiss on his lips before pulling away and saying, "All right, let's get in contact with Beau…"

— — —

Robin, Chopper, Franky, and Brook never thought there would be a place where they couldn't stay. They've been with Luffy for a long time now, and thought they could bear anything when it came to sleeping arrangements, but when it came to Beau Daewn's small cabin, they found they had to go outside due to its dingy environment and lone habitant.

The drunken old man had made a deal with them that if they helped him and his revolutionary group out with whatever they needed, then he'd help them find Luffy and the others on this island. While this promise from a drunkard didn't seem to hold much weight the group, it had only been an hour since they met with Beau and decided to make the deal with him, and it was still too early for them to abandon their hope yet.

"It's pretty boring just lying around waiting for something to happen," Franky said on his back, looking up at the sky, Taroimo at his side, lying down with his tail lazily wagging.

"It's only been an hour," said Chopper. "We can't expect to have a job this early in the game."

Brook, who had been playing his violin for a while now, stopped and added, "Indeed, take it from someone who stayed on a single ship for too many years to count, this type of waiting is nothing! Wouldn't you say Robin?"

Robin was leaned up against the cabin's wall and reading one of her books, not paying attention to the other three. When Brook realized she wouldn't answer, he went back to his violin.

Not but a few minutes later, did Beau open his door with a crash, getting the group's attention. "Come on ya little fuckers!" he said bluntly. "I'm getting a call in and I'm gonna need ya all in here!"

The group complied (albeit with a few angry grumbles due to the insults) and went into Beau's cabin, where he sat back down at his single table, a den-den mushi there. When everyone was here, he picked it up and spoke into it.

"Yeah Julia, I just went to get our newest foot-runners so they could hear what needs to be done themselves!"

"Can they be trusted?" Julia asked on the other side of the line.

Beau poured himself a drink and took a quick shot. "Don't worry, they come from an old friend of mine, one who I would _almost_ trust with my life."

"It'll have to do," Julia replied. "All right, listen up Beau, because this is imperative. Ridge is moving up the plan to tonight. I repeat, the plan is being moved to tonight."

Beau let out a laugh and said, "About fuckin' time is all I gotta say! We were ready a week ago!"

"Yeah, but you know Ridge, always wanting to have everything just right."

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, "so whaddya need?"

Silence for a second before Julia replied, "These are the last of the things we need before we can pull this whole thing off. Once all of this is delivered, we're good to go."

Beau looked at the group and said, "You hear that? That means you only got a few hours to get this shit delivered, or else our whole mission's fucked!"

They all nodded intently, not wanting to provoke the situation further.

"All right, first thing's first," Julia said through the den-den mushi, "we need two shipments of medical supplies to Yalia Town's headquarters. You hear that Beau? The people at Yalia Town's headquarters need two shipments of medical supplies sent to them in preparation of the worst."

"Yeah, I heard ya," responded Beau.

"Yalia Town?" inquired Chopper.

Beau took another shot and said, "It's our main medical base on the island. During the fight, we're gonna take our wounded there for treatment, so they need all the medical supplies they can get."

"I'll go for that one," Chopper elected. "I'm a doctor, so I'll probably know the medicine and I might even be able to help out at the base."

"You hear that, Julia?" asked Beau.

"Yeah, we copied," she replied. "It would certainly help to have another doctor on board. Send him over there, Beau."

"Alright," he said, pointing to a few boxes near his wall. "There should be two shipments of supplies over there. I've got a map on the table and I'll mark where Yalia Town is; it's the isle closest to the Hydrox Isle. Make sure you don't get lost or captured, you hear Reindeer-Boy?"

"Yeah," Chopper replied, "I hear you."

Robin helped tie the shipments onto Chopper's back (who was now in full reindeer form for optimal speed), and after studying over the map a bit, Chopper nodded and went off, promising he would report to the leader over in Yalia for further information.

Beau finished his drink and asked, "So what's next?"

"Next we need some food and water to be sent over to Ornea Square," Julia explained.

"Who's up for that?" asked Beau.

"I'll go," stated Brook. "Just give me a map and I'll be good to go!"

Beau gave him the boxes of food and water and pointed to where it is on the map. "It's pretty much on the other side of the island, close to Sylar City, so get there as fast as you can. Once you're there, go and report to the leader there; he'll tell you what to do next."

"Yes sir!" Brook saluted. "I'll go as quickly as possible, until the skin on my feet is completely gone!"

After a few seconds: "Oh wait, I have no skin! Yohohohohohoho!"

Brook left the cabin continuing his laugh, as Beau looked at him funny and asked the rest of them, "What the fuck's up with that skeleton?"

"It's a long complicated story," Franky explained. "Best to leave it alone."

"Whatever. What's next on the list there Julia?"

"The base at Myndir Village needs a fresh supply of lumber and steel so they can fortify their position in case of an attack," Julia said.

"Ain't those fuckers got enough of that?" Beau asked disdainfully.

"We just got a report from Captain Ralston over there that they need some more," she explained. "After all, it is the area where all the rebels run to if the shit hits the fan. They need all the protection they can get."

Beau sighed and pointed to Robin. "You, go and pick up a bundle of lumber and that steel in the back and pick up a map; you're going over to Myndir."

"I have a name," Robin muttered as she went to go pick them up.

She came back to pick up the marked map and went to the door. "Be sure to talk to Captain Ralston when you're there!" Beau shouted. "I don't want you comin' back here!"

Suddenly, an arm appeared on Beau's table and picked up the half-full bottle of alcohol he had and threw it against the wall. He looked astonished as he yelled to Robin, "Bitch!"

"Stay calm Beau," Julia soothed. "Can't be losing your cool now, can you?"

"I guess not," he answered. He looked at Franky. "I got one more guy here. You need him for anything?"

After a few seconds of silence, Julia finally answered, "That's all we need from here. If he wants to help you set up for the operation, you can use him for that."

Beau looked at Franky and asked, "You any good with weapons, Speedo?"

Franky beamed and replied, "Of course I am! I'm the best you can get when it comes to that kind of work!"

Beau matched his grin. "Good, because I'm gonna be needing you, but not so much your dog."

Taroimo barked angrily at this. Franky kneeled down and patted it on the head before coming back up.

"We're signing out then Beau," Julia stated. "Keep the den-den mushi handy, 'cause in the next few hours you're gonna be the one starting off the rebellion."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he said. "Just contact me when the time comes, and I'll be ready. Beau, over and out."

He hung up the den-den mushi as Franky inquired, "So what do you need me to do?"

Beau smirked at him and said, "Don't worry, you'll be busy for the next few hours…"

Taroimo barked uneasily.

— — —

It was rapidly approaching nightfall now, when Straw Hat Luffy came back to Ridge and Julia Carrison's home with Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, and Hancock with him. It had been relatively easy for Luffy to find him, most of them being back on the _Thousand Sunny_, and him simply having to wait for the remaining stragglers to come back.

"Well this certainly looks like a lively bunch," Julia said light-heartedly as Ridge chuckled. "Welcome everyone, to our humble home. Make yourselves comfortable. Sorry if we seem a little rushed, but we're in a bit of a hurry."

The Straw Hats all sat down at the table (or around it for a few), as they held a makeshift meeting to clear up any confusions the group might have.

"So Luffy tells us we're participating in a rebellion," Nami said. "It wouldn't be the first time…"

"It would seem so," Julia said with a smile. "Although I must add Mr. Luffy decided this for himself; we didn't pressure him into it."

"That's just in Luffy's character," Zoro said. "Besides, once we heard that Victor might be involved, we were all too happy to throw ourselves into it."

Ridge smiled at this and wrote something down. "We're grateful to all of you for helping us out," it said. "Although we may end up dying before the night is through, the sight of seeing such motivated strangers willing to help us makes me realize that it's worth it."

"Well we have a history of helping out islands in need," Sanji said, lighting a cigarette. "Don't worry about it."

The group chatted for about an hour or so, mostly catching the group up on what Kaido did and why they are rebelling in the first place. The Straw Hats noted that it's not the first time they've come across a corrupt government that wouldn't help, and that it's always been up to the people to rescue the island themselves.

Finally, when darkness enveloped the entire outside, Ridge looked at the clock and tapped Julia on the table. She nodded and said to the group, "It's time to call it in."

She took out the den-den mushi and eyed the Straw Hats. "You ready?"

They all nodded earnestly.

"Good." She spoke into the den-den mushi. "Beau, you there?"

— — —

"Beau, you there?"

Beau was currently lying on the top of the biggest hill in Borean, a bottle of alcohol on one side, the den-den mushi on the other, and put in-between his arms was a large rifle with a scope mounted on top.

He had left Franky with Taroimo near his cabin, showing him what he would have to put the finishing touches on. Franky simply marveled at it (and the fact that Beau could build such a thing) and assured him it could be done. Beau left his cabin with a good feeling in him, knowing his "baby" was in more-than-capable hands.

"Yeah, I'm here," he replied.

"Are you in position?" inquired Julia.

"Indeed," he replied. He looked into the scope and said, "I got a good field of vision too, so don't worry about that."

"How many do you see?"

Beau looked into the scope and looked down on the Hydrox Isle, having almost a full view of the entire area. He saw that there were several Plague Pirates who were lying around near the village, massive bonfires burning, many of them drinking and eating.

"Oh, I got plenty in my sights," he said with a grin. "Unfortunately, Kaido is nowhere to be seen. Is everyone else in position?"

After a few seconds: "We've gotten reports from everyone; they're all waiting for you, Old Man."

"I'm sure Ridge doesn't like you talkin' about me like that," smiled Beau.

"He's the one who told me to say it!" she chuckled.

After a few more seconds of silence, Julia finally said, "All right Beau, everything's ready and waiting on you. Take the shot whenever you feel ready."

"Roger that," he said.

Beau carefully moved his sights to the Plague Pirate he had chosen. "Let's see you come alive out of this one, bastard," he chuckled to himself.

Then, without a second's hesitation, he pulled the trigger.

* * *

Sparking a revolution!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	49. Hell Bent History

But first...Enjoy!

**Sorry I couldn't update yesterday, but something got in the way. I'll be updating on Sunday and then Tuesday again to get back on track.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**49: Hell-Bent History**

At the exact moment Beau Daewn pulled the trigger to his rifle, he set off a revolution that would change the fate of the Vespian Isles forever. By the end of that night, there will have been sacrifice and loss, with an outcome unclear for both sides of the battlefield.

For now, however, we take a step back in time. A time before anyone involved in this conflict was alive, a time before the Age of Pirates and Gold Roger, and a time before even the Poneglyphs themselves had yet to hold the key to the past.

Back to a time that was shrouded in mystery under the moniker of the Void Century, and coincidentally, a time where the roots of this conflict had taken form…

_Sangridyu__ Island  
____870 years ago/652 AOS  
__52 years into the Void Century_

_It was a beautiful island, of that the inhabitants had no doubt. Singularly large in its scope, and although historians may argue about it later on, Sangridyu was a solid mass of ground, not split apart like its future reincarnation the Vespian Isles are. It had everything anyone could dream of, beautiful forests, strong animals that provided plentiful meat and cattle, and fertile farming ground for crops. To the inhabitants of Sangridyu Island, however—this being the only land they have ever known—they believed they were the only humans in the world and knew nothing about the outside world._

_The people who lived there were…primitive to say the least, but from their perspective (taking into account the time period they live in), they were at least harmonious with the land they lived in, and from an unbiased point of view, peaceful._

_The inhabitants who lived on Sangridyu were united under one tribe in which everyone was a part, and they referred to themselves as the Kailai. The tribe themselves is scattered across the entirety of the island, but each specific camp of people holds the same beliefs and customs the others do. In short, they're separated in the physical sense, but held together in the spiritual sense._

_The history lesson, however, begins near the edge of the island, where a massive sea neptunian was spotted and causing havoc on the shores. The monster (which somewhat resembled an eel) screeched and smashed and crashed, as a few of the Kailai tribesmen surrounded it, throwing hooks and nets on top of it._

_"Come on, get it in the creatures flesh!" the leader yelled to the group. "We need to bring this back so we can eat!"_

_The men cheered and, when finally getting enough hooks and ropes into the creature, they were able to pull it down with a crash and bring it onto the shore where it wriggled and writhed desperately._

_"Hurry up Chief, and kill it before it escapes!" one of the tribesmen called._

_The leader, or chief of the group, bounded into action, sprinting towards the writhing sea creature that desperately wanted to get back into the ocean; letting out a massive roar, the chief leapt onto the creature, and, lifting its massive spear into the sky, brought it down on the creature's neck with quick and brutal efficiency before leaping off again. It only took half a minute for the creature to die._

_"Good job Chief!" one of the men congratulated. "This'll feed the whole tribe for sure!"_

_"Just shut up and start bringing it back," the chief said._

_"Yes!"_

_"Hungry fools make me sick," the chief said in disgust._

_The chief was a woman who looked to be in her early-to-mid-thirties who went by the name of Coria was the acting leader in a small Kailai tribe near the western side of Sangridyu Island. She had naturally white hair that was cut fairly short, and due to her life as leader, she didn't have any time to style it, so it ended up sticking out every which way it wanted. She wore traditional Kailai clothing, a brown vest put over a green shirt and black pants, wearing large circular earrings and a plethora of bead necklaces._

_Coria grunted and hefted her weapon of choice—a massive spear that was made of a whittled down tree branch with a large piece of sharpened stone with a sharp point tied at the tip, making an ancient—if not effective—weapon._

_She quickly moved past the hunting group dragging the sea creature and was the first one of the group to make it back to the tribe. The lodgings all around her never had an air of permanence, as her particular Kailai were nomads and constantly moved around the island. _

_Due to ancient customs, it has always been the tribe chief's decision to decide whether the group became nomadic or not, and Coria had elected they didn't choose the path of farming and irrigation liked several tribes had, but rather that of a hunter-and-gatherer mentality._

_Coria glanced around the tribe quickly, looking at all of the happy faces to see that she was back, but she didn't pay them much mind as she quickly went to the largest hut in the tribe and went inside of it. In there, the Tribal Mystic by the name of Toran resided, sitting peacefully with his eyes closed in meditation._

_The Kailai were unbelievably spiritual and superstitious (as most groups were back then), and (as explained earlier) believed they were the only ones who existed on the earth. They named the island Sangridyu, which meant "Earth" in their native language. _

_At the head of the spirituality of the Kailai was the Tribe Mystic, whom the tribe always referred to in any important matters (including the chief) and the Mystic was always consulted if any major decisions were to be made._

_Toran looked up at Coria. "Yes, my child?"_

_"We have returned from the hunt with a massive bounty," Coria explained, "and we require you to give us its blessing before we cook and eat it."_

_Toran nodded._

_According to the Kailai's beliefs, there were three deities they worshipped._

_The first was Sanramon, translated as "Earthmother," who was the mother of all the solid ground they lived on. She was the one who bore them all of their animals and crops that kept them alive. She, to the Kailai, was the most direct deity in their daily lives (as she provided everything to them on the island), and as such, they worshipped her the most._

_The next was known as Kilandra, which meant "Vast Blue" in their language. He was the god of the ocean, who constantly reminded the Kailai that he was there due to his constant pounding of the waves on the shore. He provided the Kailai with their bountiful supply of fish and lakes on the island (which were a scattered few). According to the Kailai's beliefs, Kilandra and Sangridyu work together in harmony with the Kailai, providing the earth, water, and food needed for them to survive. While worshipping Sanramon, they also worshipped Kilandra, so they were the most recognized and remembered deities._

_The third, while not recognized as the other two, was known as Banriom, which meant "Heavenly Father." He was the god of the sky and anything that came from it, whether it was rain, fleet, hail, or even lightning, the Kailai believed it was Banriom trying to send them a message of some kind. The Kailai believed that after someone in their tribe dies, Banriom takes care of them and grants them eternal rest. As such, whenever someone within the tribe dies, they are cremated and Banriom's name is praised._

_Toran followed Coria out to the middle of the tribe's ground, where the hunting party had returned and the massive neptunian lay there, silent. Toran inspected the sea creature and said, "It appears Kilandra has blessed us with its generous offering. Therefore, before we eat, we shall be sure to thank him, for he has provided it to us."_

_The tribe agreed, and Toran led the group in a blessing before the tribesmen began to get to work on their dinner, cutting it up and getting ready to cook it. Coria simply listened and watch, not offering any of her own input._

— — —

_Anyone who knew Chief Coria knew that she didn't like to take shit from anyone, especially when it came in the form of complaining. She took her responsibilities as leader very seriously, and recognized that without strong decisive leadership, the tribe would fall apart and their lives as they knew it would be ruined._

_Coria did recognize that they had no human enemies on Sangridyu, but she accounted that to each separate tribe having a strong decisive leader that didn't deal with dissension in the ranks. _

_Anyone else who also knew her, knew that while being a responsible and strong-willed leader, she was also rebellious towards those who were her elders, generally more pointed to the Mystics and their beliefs._

_Coria believed in the Kailai's teachings of course, but in her mind, she saw mystics as a group of doddering old men who wasted their time talking about the gods than actually contributing to the tribes. While Coria did respect the gods for what they provided, she believed the tribe needed to focus on their very real needs and thought paying homage to the gods was a waste of time._

_Despite this, she understood that the tribe itself was very spiritual and relied on Toran for any advice they needed, and as such, she allowed Toran to carry out his rituals to put the tribe at ease if nothing else…_

_After Toran said his blessing, a blazing bonfire was made to light up the dark night, as the tribe went to work on cooking the food, Coria sat near the fire alone, staring into the cackling flames with no real thoughts in her mind._

_As the food was being distributed amongst the tribe and Coria continued to sit idly, a young girl sat down next to her. Her name was Anaria, and she looked at Coria with a smile on her face and food still in her mouth._

_"Kilandra really provided, didn't he?" she asked earnestly with a smile._

_Coria provided a small snort and stated bluntly, "Maybe we should be thanking the people who actually captured the food instead of the god who made him in the vast blue."_

_Anaria chuckled at this surprisingly. "I guess that's true, but if it wasn't for Kilandra, he wouldn't exist to begin with, so we should thank him first, but then thank the hunters just as much."_

_Coria still didn't look amused at this, as she stood up and said to Anaria, "Finish your food and then go to bed. We're leaving early tomorrow."_

_"Already?" questioned Anaria. "But we just migrated here a few weeks ago."_

_"The animals on the land are migrating more inland," explained Coria, "so instead of relying on finding a random creature of the vast blue, we should be going after them."_

_"It would be a lot better if we just stayed in one spot and grew food instead of always chasing it," Anaria pouted._

_Coria scowled at the girl and said, "Well that's not how we're doing it, so when I say we're leaving tomorrow, I mean we're leaving tomorrow!"_

_Anaria recoiled and Coria sensed this. She softened her voice and said, "Sorry, I got a little carried away. I'm going to go get Toran's confirmation, so I suggest you get ready to leave and get a good night sleep."_

_While the activity still went on outside, Coria walked into Toran's hut and saw him sitting there once again, smoking on a pipe. "Yes, my child?" he asked, looking up._

_"I've decided we're going to go travel inland tomorrow," stated Coria._

_Toran shook his head and calmly said, "I sense bad misfortune on us if we go any further inland. We do not want to anger the gods by doing so."_

_Coria found her anger rising again as she angrily shot back, "Look, we got lucky today finding a creature from the vast blue out there, but there's no guarantee we'll find it again. All of the animals are migrating towards the middle of the land, and unless you want the entire tribe to starve by next week, we need to start following them!"_

_"What's more important, a little hunger, or to anger the gods—"_

_"The god's won't mind if we do what we can to survive!" interrupted Coria. "I'm the chief, and I have to do what's best for the tribe, so I say we're leaving tomorrow to go inland, and if you don't like it, then you can stay and starve!"_

_Toran eyed her with what looked to be sage-like wisdom, and after taking a long smoke on his pipe, he said, "Very well, you may take the tribe with you, but I warn you, the god's wrath is not something that can be easily quelled."_

_"Dully noted," Coria said, before turning around and leaving the hut._

_Toran took another long smoke and said to himself, "Such a rash spirit…she seems to know not the meaning of the word consequence…"_

— — —

_Coria announced after everyone ate that they were leaving, and, although some of them didn't like it, they understood her reasoning for it and supported her._

_They left at dawn the next day._

* * *

How does the Poseidon get involved in all of this...?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	50. Hell Bent History 2: Drop in the Bucket

Into the forgotten past of the Vespian Isles. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**50: Hell-Bent History 2- Drop in the Bucket**

_The going was tough for the small Kailai tribe. While generally it was made up of a group of young fit tribesmen and women, the fact that their leader Coria—who was known for her mental and physical stamina—drove them at an almost unbearable pace simply to migrate inland was what tired them out._

_They did take breaks somewhat frequently, however, as the older tribesmen and women (the oldest of the tribe being Toran), being unable to handle the physical price the trek demanded, had to stop and take breaks to regain their own stamina. Coria stopped the rest of the tribe half-heartedly and looked upon the older with a look of disdain._

_"We have to keep moving if we're to find a suitable place to make camp by nightfall," she said. "At this rate, we'll never get anywhere."_

_Toran looked upon Coria and cautioned, "If we continue at this pace, we'll collapse from physical exhaustion. Besides, we will anger the earthmother Sanramon if we continue to recklessly heed through her lands without a care."_

_Coria looked down at Toran with a mix of slight anger and pity. "I'm doing this to keep the tribe alive," she stated, "and if Sanramon—or any other god for that matter—wishes us to do differently, then it seems like they don't care what happens to those who worship them."_

_"You're treading in dangerous territory, my child," warned Toran._

_"Noted," she brushed off. She turned towards the relaxing tribe and ordered, "Let's get up! Come on now, we gotta keep at our pace if we're to catch up to the migrating animals for food."_

_The Kailai tribe looked at Coria with disappointment, but knew better than to argue with her, so they reluctantly got up and followed her lead, hoping that, as chief, she was making the right decisions._

— — —

_After a day of traveling and eating whatever the tribe could (handy roots and herbs seemed to pop up everywhere on Sangridyu), they had travelled a vast distance, and, by the late-afternoon of that same day, some inner-instinct within Coria told her to stop, and stop they did._

_The thankful tribe collapsed on the ground as Coria ordered them to set up their new lodgings ("not permanently," she said) as this is where they'd stay for a few months or so until they moved on again._

_As half the tribe went to work on that, Coria ordered the other half to follow her, as they needed to go hunting for food so the tribe could get a decent meal for once. She took a good ten men and they were off, leaving the rest of the tribe to themselves._

_They traveled more inland with their weapons ready, when they came upon a group of wild boars eating from the grass. Coria let the men silently know to surround the group, and after a few seconds of maneuvering, the boars found themselves surrounded. _

_"Get them!" Coria ordered._

_The men leapt towards the boars with their weapons drawn, eager to get their meat for themselves and the tribe. Coria was able to easily slay the closest one before moving on to the next. After about half a minute of this, Coria looked at how many her tribesmen have killed, and after surveying it wasn't enough, she decided to yell some encouragement to them (in the best way she knew, of course)._

_"Come on you good-for-nothing cowards!" she cried. "How are we supposed to feed the entire tribe if you are constantly—"_

_Then the warship came down on the island with a massive crash._

_The group was surprised to say the least, and Coria herself only caught a quick glimpse of the warship falling from the sky before it landed not fifty yards away from them. She could only see it for a fraction of a second, and that wasn't enough to see the ships (or "object" to her, not knowing what a ship looked like) immense _size_. _

_As soon as the ship hit the ground, it carried enough force to send cracks flying from it in all directions. The cracks were small right by the ship and for a while after it passed Coria, but as it got further and further past them (showing no signs of stopping, of course), the cracks increased on an exponential level. This was evidenced as after a certain point going outward, the cracks were large enough to create rifts in the island, utterly fragmenting all of Sangridyu and sending the cracked pieces of land departing from the center, floating for a while before finally resting._

_Within the matter of a few seconds, the entire island of Sangridyu was transformed into a large scattering of separate isles, all close by, but never bound to touch again._

— — —

_When Coria Sinaron awoke, she judged that she wasn't out for too long (evidenced by the fact that it was only a little darker than when she got knocked out). She rubbed her head and saw that blood was flowing down it; she didn't mind. The falling of the warship and the forced rupture of Sangridyu had sent enough force to Coria and her hunting party (who were close to ground zero) flying and landing with a thud, knocking at least her out._

_She saw her spear on the ground by her, and she tried to pick it up. She winced, however, when she tried to move her left arm. She gingerly touched it with her right hand, and the instant recoil of pain told her everything. She had broken her left arm._

_Leaving her spear forgotten, she began to trod (grateful that her legs weren't broken) towards where the cataclysmic event had taken place, all the while calling out her missing hunters names._

_Ignoring the pain coursing through her body, she pressed onward, finding a few fallen hunters, still unconscious._

_The ones that would wake up, she found, were the ones that were farthest away from where the ship landed, and (to her cold discomfort), she found that the ones who were closest, three in all, had perished from either the force or debris._

_Three others were too wounded to move, while the remaining four got up and followed her. To the wounded ones, Coria promised she would get the tribe over here as fast as possible to aid them._

_First though, Coria had to satiate her curiosity._

_Her and her four remaining hunters walked towards the epicenter of the tragedy, and, knowing quite obviously where the ship hit (due to the immense hole), they stopped on the edge and peered down._

_There, they saw exactly what she thought. The warship had fallen Sanramon knew how far down into the earth (a good quarter of a mile or so, thought Coria), but everyone who looked down into the enveloping darkness could see that whatever it was, it was on a massive scope none of them had ever seen._

_"What the hell is it?" one of the tribesmen asked._

_Coria shook her head. "I have no idea, but whatever it is, it came from the sky."_

_After a few seconds of silence, Coria began to walk away, saying, "Come on, we need to go tell the rest of the tribe about this."_

_After a while, the five hunters returned to see their tribe in somewhat of a frenzy. Apparently the impact was so massive that it affected them as well. Coria rushed over and tried her best to restore order._

_Toran quickly walked up to her and said, "I warned you child. This is Sanramon's revenge for so callously disregarding our customs."_

_"It wasn't Sanramon who did it," Coria said. "We were there when it happened. A massive…_thing_ fell from the sky, and the impact it left was so great it seemed to resonate through all of Sangridyu._

_Toran thought for a second before saying, "It truly is a work of the gods…"_

_"What do you mean?"_

_Toran motioned to her. "Follow me, my child."_

_They didn't even walk a good five minutes before they were forced to stop. Coria looked and saw that at this point, the land they were on was forcefully separated from the rest of it, as the closest land she could see was a good distance away from them, and between them was only the ocean._

_"You mean…" she started, "…Sangridyu was literally torn apart?"_

_Toran nodded. "It must have been the work of Kilandra and Banriom, and whether Sanramon was in on it is beyond me."_

_"What do you mean?"_

_Toran pointed to the sky. "You say the object fell from the sky correct?"_

_"Yes…"_

_"Then it must have Banriom's doing," Toran explained. "Since all things from the sky are his, there could have been no one else to send the object falling down on us. Kilandra seemed to be a part of this as well, for as soon as the object split Sangridyu apart, he quickly moved in with his Vast Blue to cover up the separated parts."_

_"Wait," Coria said in a confused tone. "Are you saying that…even though we were in the middle of Sangridyu before, we're now surrounded by the Vast Blue?"_

_Toran nodded. "It appears we're at the center of it all, as all the land around ours seemed to separate indefinitely, surrounding us with the Blue."_

_This seemed to be too much for Coria, as she fell to her knees, completely unnerved. "Have we angered the gods so much that his was the only way to get our attention?"_

_"I know not," stated Toran. "We always did praise Sanramon more than the others, and perhaps Kilandra and Banriom wanted to send a message to us to make us change our ways."_

_Coria still couldn't get up, as tears fell from her eyes at her realization that she may have angered the gods to cause this. Toran, sensing this, put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Come on, we need to go and get you healed up."_

— — —

_Coria had led the entire Kailai tribe towards the epicenter of it all, where (after treating the wounded hunters), they all peered down over the edge. Everyone looked at Toran to see if he knew what the warship was._

_"I don't know," he said. "It looks like nothing I've ever seen before."_

_"So it really is from Banriom then?" they demanded._

_Toran nodded. "It appears that way."_

_He looked at Coria and said, "Due to this turn of events, it appears that hunting-and-gathering can no longer be our way of life. It wouldn't be long for the animals on our land to be gone forever if we hunt them, so we must find new means of life."_

_Coria looked at Toran. "So what should we do?"_

_"We must settle down for good and learn to cultivate the land, like some other tribes have already done," suggest Toran. "That, I believe, is the best way for us to survive now."_

_"Do you believe it would please the gods if we did that?" Coria asked._

_Toran nodded._

_Coria looked up at the sky, smiled, and said, "Then that is what we shall do!"_

— — —

_The Vespian Isles  
__860 years ago/662 AOS  
__62 years into the Void Century_

_"Coria!" yelled Anaria, now a teenager, looking for the Kailai chief._

_Coria looked up from the field of wheat and waved to Anaria. "Over here!"_

_Anaria saw and bounded towards her. When she got there, she began to pant and held her legs. Coria chuckled at this._

_"Relax and catch your breath," she advised. "You can tell me when you're breathing properly again."_

_Over the past ten years, the Kailai tribe has changed significantly. By no means was making the transition from hunting-and-gathering to farming an easy one, but with steady persistence, the tribe got it down._

_The first major change was that they changed the name of the island from Sangridyu, to the Vespian Isles. "Vespian" in their language, meant "scattered," and everyone thought it was a new fitting name. It took a while for the change to be official, however, as Coria and Toran had to appeal to the other chiefs of the scattered Kailai tribe. Eventually, however, they all agreed that it should be the new name._

_They then set up permanent lodging and living grounds, and established large fields for crops to grow. They quickly developed tools to make the farming easier, and, while they still occasionally hunted, they mostly relief off of the crops to feed the entire tribe. _

_They decided to set up their permanent tribe grounds to be more near the eastern coast (which was slowly but surely changing from just a cliff to a beach, the constant crashing of the waves against it had something to do with that). As the tribe expanded, however, they built more and more inland, establishing more farmland and sources of food and drink._

_The massive hole where the warship fell—while the land around it began to heal—almost seemed to remain constant. Despite this, the Kailai regarded it as a sacred gift from Banriom and decorated around it with all manners of paraphernalia. As an order by Coria and Toran, the tribe then needed to worship Banriom while around the object, and worship Kilandra by the sea._

_The Kailai had also tried their first experiments in boating, using some of the trees on land to fashion together rafts which they used to get the occasional fish for the tribe. After several trial-and-error attempts, they seemed to have gotten it down, fashioning sails and going out to the other isles to talk to the other tribes._

_Coria's personality and attitude seemed to have changed drastically as well, mostly in terms of how she viewed the tribe's customs. While she used to view them with mere tolerance, she now actively participated in the worshipping of the three gods and seemed to take Toran's advice on everything regarding them now. She said that the splitting of Sangridyu came as a sort of revelation for her, giving her a greater respect for the Kailai ritual and customs._

_Despite her having a more relaxed attitude now, however, she still retained her role as chief, and used it whenever she felt it was necessary._

_After a few seconds, Anaria said, "You don't understand…it's Toran…he's dying."_

_"What?" responded Coria, before rushing off towards the tribal grounds._

_She burst in to Toran's room to see him lying on the floor with a few tribesmen and women surrounding him. "Coria, my child, is that you?" he asked weakly._

_"Yeah, it's me," she said, walking towards him. "And what do you think you're doing, trying to die on us?"_

_"My time has come," he simply stated. "I have lived a good long life, and I have no regrets."_

_Coria turned towards one of the women and asked, "Can't you do anything to help him?"_

_She looked at the chief solemnly and closed her eyes and shook her head. "No…"_

_Coria quickly kneeled down to Toran with sadness etched on her face. "You can't die," she said with a sorrowful expression. "We still need you around."_

_Toran uttered a weak laugh in-between his coughs ands aid, "Worry not about me, my child, as I am going to see Banriom in the sky soon. However, I would just like to say that I am very proud of you since these last ten years. You really have turned around and led our tribe to prosperity."_

_"Only because of you!" she seemed to yell helplessly. "Without you, our tribe is doomed."_

_"The tribe _won't _be doomed," Toran stated, "because they have you to lead them. As long as you keep up what you're doing, then there's no need to worry about the state of the tribe."_

_He coughed violently for a few seconds before continuing._

_"My health has been getting progressively worse for these past ten years, and now, it's time for me to depart from this mortal world, and go join our great ancestors in the sky..."_

_With that, Toran let out his final breath, and his eyes closed for good._

_"Toran?" asked Coria, beginning to shake him. "Toran? Damn it, Toran, wake up! Don't you dare leave us now! Toran!"_

_One of the tribesmen in attendance put his hand on her shoulder and shook his head at her. "It's too late, I'm sorry."_

_Coria violently got up and stormed out of the room and out into the tribal grounds. Almost immediately, a tribesman ran up to her and said, "Chief, off of the coast, it looks like there's a group of…of strange floating ships coming towards us. They're approaching fast!"_

_"What?" she demanded. "Take me there now!"_

_The tribesman nodded, and after Coria ordered any able-bodied tribesman to come with her armed, they set off for the coast._

* * *

What now?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	51. Hell Bent History 3: Emissary from Hell

Mysterious visitors from the Vast Blue...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**51: Hell-Bent History 3- Emissary from Hell**

_The death of Toran was already a lot for Coria's mind to bear, yet almost immediately after his death, she got the news that strange…ships she believed they were called (she could grasp that it was similar to the rafts they had) were coming on off of the eastern shore towards them._

_It didn't take them long to get onto the small rudimentary beach (still somewhat cliff-like) where she ordered her men to stay up high in case things go bad. She stood alone on the beach, her trusty spear in hand, staring out at the Vast Blue._

_She saw what they were talking about, as large…ships seemed to be closing the distance between the Vast Blue and Sangridyu. Her exceptional eyesight also noted that there were three of them, and almost immediately after seeing them, her mind flashed back to ten years ago when she saw the massive…object fly from the sky and separate the island. These…ships looked almost exactly like that one, albeit on a much smaller scale._

_"Could they be emissaries from Kilandra?" she asked herself. "Surely no one else exists out there in the Vast Blue other than sea-life, so they must be emissaries."_

_The three galleons carefully maneuvered their ways through the separated isles and moored themselves right off the coast, and soon enough, small dinghies (which reminded Coria more of their own boats) came rowing to shore._

_A good thirty men got off of the dinghies, and at the head of them appeared to be their chief. He approached Coria with a smile on his face._

_"Hello, my name is Admiral Nevra, and I would like to have a word with your leader," he said._

_"Are you emissaries from Kilandra?" asked Coria._

_"Who?" blinked Nevra. He shook his head. "Never mind, we come as…let's say diplomats from the Twenty Kingdoms, also known as the Ancient Alliance, or the Grand Government. I repeat, I would like to talk to your leader."_

_"I am the chief of this tribe," Coria said assertively. "My name is Coria, and I demand to know what you want."_

_Nevra smirked at this and replied, "I simply would like to talk to you. If you could lead me back to your tribe where we could get more comfortable, I would happily—"_

_"We'll talk right here," Coria stated sternly. "Now tell me what you have to say and leave!"_

_"How very harsh," Nevra seemingly mocked. "We've come here because we've heard that your island holds something very…special."_

_"Special?"_

_"Indeed," he smiled. "Am I correct in assuming that sometime within the last fifteen years, something seemed to…land on your island and turn it into the fragmented form that it is today?"_

_Coria remained silent, but when she heard it, she couldn't help but react, even if only slightly._

_"I can tell by your reaction that there was," Nevra stated. "Wouldn't you like to know how such a thing came from the sky?"_

_"It came from Banriom, the God of the Sky," stated Coria humorlessly. "He sent it down to deliver a warning to us."_

_Nevra then let out a massive burst of laughter, along with all of his men. Coria looked confused at them and demanded, "Why are you all laughing? Answer me!"_

_"Sorry chief," Nevra said, wiping a small tear from his eye, "but your answer truly does reflect the…primitive nature of some of the islands these days. Thinking that a god did it…what a riot!"_

_"Don't you dare insult Banriom!" Coria said, raising her spear._

_Nevra put up his hands in a calming motion. "Relax, relax. Allow me now to explain what _really _happened to your island."_

_Coria remained silent, but Nevra spoke anyway._

_"You see, for as long as anyone can remember, the Twenty Kingdoms has been at war with the Ancient Kingdom for dominance of power. After so many years of fighting, everyone on both sides can tell you that it's gotten rather tedious and tiring."_

_"Are you suggesting that there are more people that live on this earth?" asked Coria._

_Nevra held up his hand. "Please, let me finish. Anyways, in order to correct this problem, the Ancient Kingdom decided to build a few…weapons of mass destruction, shall we say? They built them in the form of massive warships—kind of similar to what we came in on—and they apparently have the power to wipe away whole islands."_

_Coria remained silent and motionless._

_"Well we of the Twenty Kingdoms have been on the winning end of this war for a while now, and, needless to say, we didn't want them having such a weapon," he continued. "In fact, this weapon had been used a few times and had a very devastating effect upon a few islands we had soldiers based at. Very recently, however, we got a report that has come to our attention. It has stated that right after it left the Ancient Kingdom for another voyage, one of these warships by the name of Poseidon was on its way to attack the Twenty Kingdoms yet again. Luckily for us, the ship was hit by a massive and highly-pressurized water stream—which we like to call the Knock-Up Stream—sending it flying into the air."_

_"Are you saying—"_

_"Of course, what comes up, must come down," smirked Nevra, "and where do you think that warship landed?"_

_"You don't mean that—"_

_"That's right!" interjected Nevra again. "Poseidon came crashing down right on your island from lord knows how high up! Luckily, it's wood is made from the wood of an Adam Tree, so it was able to withstand the entire impact, and because of its massive size, it literally tore this island apart. Everyone on the ship died, of course, but I'm willing to bet that Poseidon is right where it landed still, in a massive hole on the middle of all of these isles! So my question is, will you show it to me?"_

_Coria raised her spear menacingly. "What do you plan to do with it?"_

_"We were quite lucky to learn that those of the Ancient Kingdom didn't know what happened to their precious ship, even after all these years," explained Nevra, "and since we're already winning the war and don't need such power for fear of it falling into the wrong hands, we intend to bury it on this island for good so no one can ever find it again."_

_Nevra attempted to move forward, but Coria kept her spear raised. "You will _not _go and defile an artifact from Banriom!" she barked. She turned towards her men on the high ground, and nodded towards them._

_Nevra inspected the spear and said, "Still using sharpened rocks for weapons, eh? I think it's time we brought you to the modern age!"_

_"Get ready to fight!" Coria called while turning to her men, who all readied their weapons._

_Before Coria could turn back towards her enemy, Nevra was already on the offensive. With a pair of brass knuckles he put on his hands, he knocked Coria's spear away effortlessly with one fist and used the other to hit Coria in the stomach, winding her and causing her to clutch her stomach. Not letting up, Nevra brought one more smashing blow down on Coria's exposed back, knocking her face-down into the sand._

_"Metal," Nevra smirked. "Just one of the many wonderful inventions of the new age."_

_"They got the chief!" one of the tribesmen yelled. "Get them!"_

_With that, they all rushed down to challenge the invaders. Admiral Nevra motioned to his men, who pulled out their swords. "Steel is another great invention, one that can easily counter your sticks and rocks!"_

_An all-out battle ensued as both sides clashed, and men on both sides went down. Nevra stayed by Coria to rap out orders, but Coria was quickly back on her feet again. Clutching her spear, she cut down the nearest unprepared invader as Nevra looked at her with mild surprise and amusement on his face._

_"Men, retreat!" she yelled. "We're no match for them! We have to go and warn the tribe!"_

_Before she could say anything else, Nevra was on her, smashing her across the face with his brass knuckles. "Sorry, but that won't do," he said. "A part of our mission was to make sure that anyone who has ever seen Poseidon doesn't ever live to tell about it."_

_"You bastard!" cursed Coria, swinging her spear at him. _

_He deftly dodged it and threw a punch at Coria, but she brought up the handle of her spear to block it. Nevra's strength easily splintered the wood, however, and he was able to knock the unarmed Coria to the ground again._

_In her daze, she saw that her tribesmen were losing. None of them seemed to hear her, not before long, the battle was over, with the winners being that of the Twenty Kingdoms. Nevra ordered his men to move forward and find where Poseidon was and kill anyone who resists them._

_When they were gone, Coria slowly got up, and, saying a quick prayer to Banriom for her fallen men, began to sprint towards the tribe. _

_"Got to…warn the others…" she panted while running._

_Luckily, she knew Vespian's surroundings better than the invaders did, so she was the first to arrive. Everyone looked at her in confused tone._

_"What's going on?" Anaria asked. "Coria, what happened?"_

_"No time to explain now!" she panted. "Right now, we need to gather as many people as possible, and get them to our boats on the other side of the island…"_

_"But why?"_

_"JUST DO IT!" she shouted._

_Anaria nodded as she and Coria quickly gathered as many tribesmen and women as they could. After hearing the approaching group Nevra led, Coria led Anaria and a good forty members of her tribe and quickly led them past the massive hole Poseidon left (gathering a few more members while she could). She stopped them at the northern end of the beach where the Kailai had all of their rafts perched, bobbing up and down with the ebbing tide._

_Coria stopped them there. "Now I want all of you to wait here until nightfall," she ordered. "Tell as many tribe members who pass by as you can to stay with you, and if I'm not back by the night, then I want you all to set sail for a new piece of land."_

_"What are you talking about?" asked Anaria. "Can't we just go to another isle to—"_

_"We don't know if any surrounding isles are safe anymore!" interjected Coria. "The best thing to do is to set sail for a new piece of land—uninhabited if possible—and reestablish the tribe."_

_"You mean there's more land than just ours?" asked one of the tribesmen._

_Coria nodded. "I've just learned that we're not the only ones that exist. For better or for worse, there's more out there, and you need to go find it."_

_"What are you going to do?" inquired Anaria._

_Coria took one of the tribesmen spears and said, "I'm going to go and stop the intruders. Remember, if I'm not back by nightfall, then set sail and never come back."_

_Before anyone could protest her decision, Coria was already running off towards Poseidon._

— — —

_A visible vein of frustration could be seen on Admiral Nevra's head when he came upon the abandoned tribes ground. He knew someone warned them, but he didn't let it bother him too much. He would find them in time, but what was most important now was that they needed to complete their mission and get rid of Poseidon._

_He led his men over to the massive hole. Stopping at the edge, he peered over it and confirmed it was there. "Truly a magnificent design," he commented. "Such a shame it has the power to destroy anything it wants."_

_He ordered his men to set up the preparations. They surrounded the entirety of the hole with kegs of gunpowder, and they spread out lines of gunpowder on all sides so they could light it from a safe distance._

_When it was all complete, Coria fell upon them like a devil, leaping on the closest enemy with his back turned and brutally shoving her spear into his spine. She took out three unsuspecting men before they finally got a hold of her. Nevra smiled at this and motioned to bring her over._

_"Do you know what gunpowder is, chief?" he asked Coria with a smirk._

_"I don't know any of the foreign items you devils brought!" she spat. "But right now you're defiling sacred ground!"_

_"Indeed," replied Nevra. "Regardless, it is a truly great new invention. It has the power to make things explode. Why do you think we'd need that power, chief?"_

_Coria simply struggled and cursed at Nevra, who still remained cheery._

_"It's because," he said stepping away with his men from the hole, "the powers of explosions bring many a great new damage."_

_He motioned to his men, who all nodded and, surrounding all sides of the hole, took out a match and threw it at the gunpowder, igniting it on all sides._

_"This is the power of technology," smirked Nevra. "A power that not even your gods can match!"_

_Coria watched helplessly as the fire hit the gunpowder and ignited it all, causing a massive explosion surrounding all sides of the hole. The explosions were so powerful that the ground underneath it collapsed, and soon enough, the entire hole was filled to the top with rubble, hiding Poseidon away in relative obscurity._

_"HOW DARE YOU!" shouted Coria, trying to escape._

_Nevra gladly walked over to her with a sword in his hand. "Poseidon is now erased from this world, and the only ones who know where it is, are the inhabitants of this isle. Now how about you be good and just tell me where they are?"_

_Coria spat defiantly in Nevra's face, who simply wiped it off and stepped back. "Very well, it's only a matter of time before we find them anyway. Searching the island is a simple task. With that said, what say we start off our little extermination with you?"_

_With that, Nevra thrust the sword straight through Coria's chest. She stared down with wide eyes and let out a massive roar of pain. Nevra pulled the sword out, and Coria dropped to her knees, and then fell face-down._

_Nevra gave her head a quick boot, and said to his men, "Come on, we might as well start back at the tribal grounds and start heading south, going around the entire island."_

_They left, and as the blood began to flee out of Coria and her vision dimmed, she began to question why this happened._

_"_Did we anger you again Banriom?_" she thought in her fevered mind. "_I thought if we did everything you wanted…you'd let us live peaceful lives…Why would you let men come across the Vast Blue Kilandra? Was it because we took food from your water and began to float across the Blue ourselves?_"_

_Time seemed to stand still for Coria, and before she knew it, Anaria showed up in her dimming vision. She screamed and ran towards her._

_"Anaria…" coughed Coria. "Why are you…here?"_

_"I had to see if you were safe," she said, slowly turning Coria over so she faced the sky. "You're okay to go, right?" she asked in denial, despite seeing her wound._

_Coria coughed again and said, "Listen Anaria, I need you listen to my final orders as chief…"_

_"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT!" she yelled. "We'll get you help, you just need to come back and—"_

_"You need to retell this tale," interrupted the wheezing Coria. "Let everybody know of the existence of the falling object in the sky that is a warship—or raft as we call it—called Poseidon…for no matter what it is, it is still a gift from Banriom. Let everyone know that the warship Poseidon is here…on the Vespian Isles."_

_Tears were leaking out of Anaria as she simply nodded. "I will!"_

_"Make sure we're not forgotten…" Coria said, in a delirious state now. "Go find a new island…write about this tale so we're never…forgotten. But now…you have to leave… They're looking for you, so you have to go now…"_

_"But—"_

_"GO NOW!" Coria yelled, using the last of her strength._

_Anaria quickly got up and said, "You will never be forgotten Coria, and I'll make sure we write of Poseidon and where it is, in honor of Banriom."_

_"Go now…" wheezed Coria. "Escape…reestablish…retell…"_

_Anaria took one last look at Coria, and then left. Coria stared with her watery-eyes up at the sky. "_I'm coming Banriom…_" she thought. "_Whether you like it or not, I'm coming to see you…_"_

_With that, Coria died._

— — —

Anaria told the Kailai, and they set sail before the night fell. It was later told in history that they made it to other islands, but always left, trying to find the right uninhabited one. They did learn, however, to make better boats, and with this new skill, they were able to make it to an island similar to their old one named Jaya, particularly the city of Shandora.

Thankfully, she came across some emissaries of the Ancient Kingdom on a particular island and after they learned she knew where Poseidon was, and she refused to disclose its location for spiritual purposes, they taught her how to write in their language and gave her a large block of indestructible rock to take with them. They made Anaria promise she would write down its location on that stone in their specific language. Glad the message she promised Coria would never fade, Anaria agreed.

They met with the natives of Jaya, the Shandians, and after being happily welcome by those who share a similar belief value, Anaria carved into the Poneglyph and set it in the city of Shandora, happy with its final resting place.

There, it detailed all about the Vespian Isles, and how Poseidon was hidden underneath the earth on the middlemost isle. The Kailai and Shandians then promised to guard it for all time.

Time, however, obscured the Kailai's customs and faiths, and within thirty years since then, the Kailai integrated into Shandora and subsequently Shandian society, eventually calling themselves Shandians as well. However, their protection for the Poneglyph remained, even if the Kailai's ancient customs were forgotten.

With more time passing, it appeared as if the ancient ways of Kailai had died, and on Jaya, it certainly did, with the merger to become the Shandians making the original Kailai almost forget their customs altogether, and later worshiping the giant snake Kashigami.

The light of Kailai still lived on, however, with those still left on the Vespian Isles. While Admiral Nevra did kill anyone he found on the isle with Poseidon, he decided to let the other isles be, as they didn't know a thing about the Poseidon.

There, the scattered Kailai tribe continued on, but over time, explorers came to the island, and, while still keeping the name of the Vespian Isles, taught the Kailai in the ways of modern technology and soon enough their ancient customs died as well, becoming a more advanced culture in their own right, evolving into what the Vespians are today.

Indeed, over the course of centuries, the Kailai have become a forgotten tribe with forgotten customs, but the only thing that lives on about them, is the Poneglyph of Shandora, which still exists to this day on Skypiea…

— — —

_The Vespian Isles  
__The Present/1522 AOS_

_The little history lesson is now at an end, but that important piece of history is what shaped the conflict that is about to come..._

The small ship docked itself on one of the outer isles. There, two men stepped off of it. One of them, surprisingly, was Silvers Rayleigh. He stretched and said to his companion, "If my information is correct, Kaido should be on the Hydrox Isle."

The man shifted his position and said, "Such a shame about Kaido…I really thought our little talk got him to understand things, yet here he is now, causing terror to the people."

"Need I remind you, he's not the worst threat on this island now," said Silvers. "Victor is here as well, and he plans on reviving the Poseidon."

"Ah, Victor…" the man said. He turned towards Silvers. "I want to thank you for bringing this to my attention. This truly is a massive turn of events that I don't want to miss out on."

Silvers nodded.

The man took a step forward. "Shall we go then, Silvers?"

He nodded and said, "Of course, Shanks…"

_The history lesson is over, and now, it's time to focus on the present, and the battle that's yet to come…_

* * *

Onward towards the present...

**Behind the Character (2): Coria**

Ah, the heroine of our little blast from the past. Before I say anything else, I'd first just like to state that the entire Vespian Isles History mini-arc was pretty much inspired from the history of Jaya and Skypiea (and I even found a way to connect them!). Keeping that in mind, I knew that I needed a protagonist along the lines of Calgara, the leader of the Shandians in Jaya's past. Because of that, I suppose you could say that personality-wise, she has all of the main traits of Calgara on a layman's level, such as with their brutal personalities and such.

That being said, I really like this character because of the change she goes through in this arc. She starts off as an old-day skeptic to ancient customs and gods, not really believing in them, but kind of going with the flow. Due to their limited understanding of the world, however, and the Poseidon landing on the island due to a knock-up stream (in case that wasn't clear enough), she has a revelation and began to believe in such things. However, after the events with Nevra, she begins to doubt again, but ultimately accepts her death and believes she's going to a better place.

I know I would personally like to believe that this is good character development on her part, but someone who wasn't so invested in the character and story might just see her as wishy-washy, and that's fine. After all, I kind of made it open to interpretation.

Design-wise, there was no real model. The most I could say was that maybe I got the design of her hair from Aisa (another Shandian), but that's it. I liked the idea of white hair, so I just threw that in. Surprisingly (or not), I originally planned for Coria to be a male, but when I told my friend about it, she suggest that I make her a female. I liked the idea (thinking it to be a nice change of pace) and decided to go with it. Other than that, she just reveals my own take on a unique tribal chief; nothing special.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	52. Trigger

Danger back in the Present...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**52: Trigger**

The night had approached the Vespian Isles, and Victor found that he was having a hard time sleeping. He had left for his camp hidden well within the Hydrox Isle after feeling he had observed Kaido long enough, ate some food, and attempted to sleep.

He found, however, that as soon as he fell asleep, he was plagued with nightmares. Surreal images of his past, childhood, and of some of the things he had seen pirates do in his lifetime. He awoke almost immediately in a start, and decided to go overlook the operation of getting Poseidon.

He went to the dig site, and surprisingly, he found Abalo Pizarro sitting by it, a lit cigarette in his hand. Perplexed, Victor walked up to him to find out what was going on.

"Taking a break?" he asked.

Pizarro took a puff on his cigarette and jerked a thumb backwards towards the dig site. "Done," he simply said.

Victor blinked. "Excuse me?"

"We finished the excavation," Pizarro stated. "I've done all I could, going through all that bedrock. All that's left is having some of the men do some last minute touches."

Victor was visibly shaking. "Yes, yes," he said hastily, "but it's basically finished, correct?"

Pizarro nodded. "Shouldn't take more than an hour to get Poseidon out, give or take fifteen minutes or so."

"Good, good," said Victor. "Excellent work Pizarro." He leaned in closer to the Corrupt King and said, "Let's just keep this business of getting the Poseidon out away from Kaido, eh?"

Pizarro's face lit up as he nodded. "What exactly are you planning there Victor?"

"Don't worry about it," he quickly replied. "Just let me know immediately when the ship is ready for transport so I can get Wolf ready."

Pizarro nodded, and Victor walked away.

It took near a full five minutes for him to stop shaking with excitement.

— — —

Victor wasn't stupid. He knew exactly what was going on on the island. Just one of the plusses of sending out a few members of the Corps of Kings to major cities like Sylar. At this late in the stage, information-gathering was key to Victor, and he made sure he found out everything he could.

So when Daron Arkan (along with Vendrix, but he left to go do his own thing) came back to Victor to report that he had an interesting skirmish with Roronoa Zoro of the Straw Hat Pirates. Victor had expected them to land on the Vespian Isles anyways, so this didn't come as much of a surprise.

One thing did stick in his mind, however.

While recounting his battle with Zoro, Daron had stated that they got interrupted by Monkey D. Garp, the former Hero of the Marines. This unsettled Victor somewhat, but when he also learned that he was accompanied by none other than Commodore White Chase Smoker, it had gotten Victor's attention.

He surmised that they were most likely deployed by Sengoku to hunt down the surviving Shichibukai: Doflamingo, Mihawk, and himself. He knew that it might be a problem at some point, but he didn't expect such a powerful marine to show up right in the middle of his operations. He took this new information into account, and planned accordingly.

He had come back to their own personal base to talk to Tobias. He found him sitting down in what appeared to be meditation. He kicked at him lightly.

"Hey, Tobias, you awake?"

He slowly opened his eyes. "Yes?"

"We got some plans to discuss."

"What would that be?"

Victor crouched down to get a level-eyed view of Tobias. "According to Pizarro, the Poseidon will be ready to move in an hour. I want you to go and get Wolf and assemble everyone you can, but do it quietly, without arousing suspicion from the Plague Pirates."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "What do we intend to do about Kaido?"

"Don't worry about him," replied Victor. "I've had William be his 'personal bodyguard' from our side, and he's keeping an eye on him all right. What matters now, though, is that we're ready to move within an hour."

Tobias nodded. "If it gets us to our goal quicker, then it is for the best."

"Oh, it'll send us flying to our goal with the speed of a fuckin' golden train," laughed Victor. "Just make sure it's done."

Tobias nodded. "All right, I'll—"

"Why what is all this secretive talk about?"

Both Victor and Tobias immediately turned around to see Kaido standing there with a smile, Gunslinger William Helmont at his side. Victor glared at William as if to say he needed some warning, but William only looked at him sympathetically that seemed to say "there was nothing I could do."

Victor matched his smile. "Why, are we getting a bit paranoid there Kaido?"

"Well when Poseidon and One Piece are at stake, one could get a little…irrational," he simply stated. "But I would like to know what you were talking about."

"I was just talking to Tobias about how the excavation was going," he replied. "Nothing more and nothing less…"

"So how is the excavation going then?"

"It'll probably take half a day more," Victor said. "It's pretty deep underground, after all."

Kaido nodded and turned around, about to walk away. "I would suggest you tread lightly while here…It would be a horrible shame if a few of you were to come down with a slight cold."

Kaido didn't get four feet away when the sound of a gunshot was heard. They all immediately snapped to attention as they heard several screams followed by more gunshots. Victor immediately sprang into action.

"William!" he ordered. "Go up on that hill and see if you can find out where those shots are coming from!"

He nodded and immediately bounded off for the massive hill that would give him a strong vantage point.

"So it's those bastards after all," Kaido muttered.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" demanded Victor. "Are you suggesting you know what's going on?"

"Well my stay here has caused some…unrest with Vespians," replied Kaido. "I have caught rumors in the wind that a man named Ridge Carrison—a deaf-mute—was inciting a rebellion against me, but I didn't know if it was true or not."

"You're saying you knew there was a rebellion and didn't do anything about it?"

"I said there were _rumors_," reiterated Kaido. "Besides, I didn't think they could do much anyway."

Victor looked around to see several men falling to gunshots. "Well apparently they _can_ do something! Now you're men are the ones paying the price."

Kaido was about to respond when William called up from the hill.

"It looks like there are snipers on all the isles surrounding this one!" he shouted down. "Hey Boss, from what I can see, it looks like the Straw Hats are hanging out in the middle of some forest!"

"What?" was Victor's response. "Well what are you waiting for? Take them out!"

William smiled at this. "With pleasure."

Victor then turned to Kaido and said, "And I'm not risking my men out there! This is your problem, and you need to use your men to fix it."

Kaido responded with a grunt and turned to one of his men. "Gather up the Plague Pirates and split them up into equal forces to go and deal with the rebels on each individual isle. I'll go personally to deal with Carrison."

When Kaido was walking away, Victor shouted angrily at him, "You knew where he lived as well, and still didn't do anything?"

Kaido didn't respond, as he was already gone, taking the closest twenty men he could find. Victor looked up at William and shouted, "When you're done taking them out, go and make sure Kaido doesn't do anything fucking stupid! There are marines on this island after all!"

William nodded, turning his arm into an artillery cannon.

Victor snapped towards Tobias and said, "I can't trust that incompetent fool to take care of this alone. Send word to Blackbeard's old crew—save for Wolf of course—that they're to search each isle and take care of the problem, especially if they come across any marines. We can't afford to have anyone else fuck this up!"

Tobias nodded.

"I'll go to Pizarro and send him out too—since he served his purpose—and make sure you gather everyone else and have them meet me at where Poseidon is. Be sure to let Blackbeard's old crew know that they're to meet back at Poseidon when they've conducted a thorough search. If they're not there within an hour, then too bad for them!"

Tobias nodded again. "It'll be done."

"Alright," Victor sighed. "Get the remaining members of the Corps of Kings and have them meet me at Poseidon."

With that, he left.

Meanwhile, William took aim of Ridge's house where the Straw Hats were standing together and smiled. "Blast-Blast Artillery!"

— — —

_"We had snipers position all around Hydrox Isle waiting for Beau's signal to attack," Julia had explained to the Straw Hats, all of them filing outside of her home._

_Ridge nodded._

_"Our plan is to cause confusion and have Kaido send out pirates in all directions to take care of the problem, where our men will be hiding and waiting behind all of the booby traps we've set. Then, once we've taken out his force, we can swarm Hydrox and take out Kaido!"_

_"Clever plan," Nami said. "Seems about the only possible way to take out such a powerful force."_

_Ridge motioned to Julia and pointed away from the house. Julia turned towards the Straw Hats and said, "We have to go take care of a few more things. You can wait here for us to return if you want, but we won't stop you if you want to help in some other way."_

_They all nodded, and with that, both Ridge and Julia were gone…_

Sanji leaned against a tree, smoking a cigarette with Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Hancock hanging around the Carrison's house. "So we're just gonna hang out around here until they get back then?"

"It's the best plan," Nami said. "Ridge and Julia know this operation the best, and if we go running off, we'd just get lost and not end up helping."

"Not that it's stopping this kid," Zoro sighed, holding Luffy under his armpits in an attempt to stop him from running.

"Come on, I wanna go and kick Kaido's ass!" he said, trying to escape Zoro's strong grasp.

"Give it up," Zoro said flatly. "In this forest area, you'd just get lost and end up doing nothing."

"How dare you lay your hands on Luffy!" Hancock yelled to Zoro.

"No I won't! I'm just gonna go to the Hydrox Isle and fight with Kaido! Then hopefully we can find Victor and I can kick his ass too!"

"Can you even point to the direction the Hydrox Isle is in?" asked a curious Usopp.

Luffy froze for a second, before finally answering, "No…"

"Then just sit tight and wait for Ridge and Julia; they know where it is, and will probably lead us there anyway," Usopp sighed.

Luffy finally stopped struggling.

"Can I let you go now?" asked Zoro.

Luffy nodded, and Zoro released him. "You guys are right, I guess we'll just wait to—"

William's artillery shell hit dead on at Ridge and Julia's house with such a force that it sent all the Straw Hats flying to the ground from the shock.

— — —

Kaido was moving quickly with his twelve men trying to keep up. He had already lost five upon entering the isle that Ridge and Julia's house was on due to clever traps they had set up in advanced. Two of the five were lost to falling in a pit with sharpened stakes at the bottom, while one stepped on some device that made a clicking noise, and when he stepped off of it, a homemade bomb flew into the air, killing him and two others.

Three had been wounded when one stepped over a trip wire, apparently activating several guns hiding in the brush of the forest, as bullets flew at them from all sides. Kaido's instincts served him well, as he had been honed by a lifetime of skill and hardship. His men, however, were not so lucky. He coldly left the three injured men to die as he and his remaining men moved on.

Not being the best with directions, however, Kaido kept going off in random paths, hoping they would lead to his ultimate destination so he could kill Ridge and end the rebellion prematurely. After several minutes of wandering, however, and he stopped dead in his tracks.

_"Enough of this!" _he yelled, as his men recoiled. "Let's get rid of this bothersome vegetation!"

"Ah, Captain, you don't mean—"

Orange mist began to emanate from Kaido's pores, as he yelled, "Agent Orange!"

"Ah! He really is using it!" his men yelled, trying to scramble away from it. "His special technique Agent Orange. A technique that uses special bacteria to act as a pesticide and eat away at all plant-life; it can also be deadly for humans to inhale too!"

Sure enough, as soon as the orange mist touched the trees surrounding them, they shriveled away almost instantly to nothing, leaving only gray dying vegetation in their place. His men had already fled the isle, knowing that once he started, he would increase the radius until he found where to go. Kaido—the eater of the Flu-Flu Fruit—stayed there, continuing to produce the noxious gas, until its radius got so big it stopped.

When it stopped, Kaido looked up and saw a much clearer path, and within seconds, he spotted the silhouette of a house…right before it seemed to explode.

Surprised, Kaido hurried over there to see what happened.

— — —

Gunslinger William Helmont smirked as he saw his artillery shell scatter the Straw Hat Crew to the wind, and after firing two more quick shots towards them, he rushed down the hill to try and find Kaido and make sure he doesn't fuck anything else up more than it needed to be.

— — —

Almost immediately after the house exploded, two more of William's shells hit the ground, and, while none of them hit the Straw Hats directly, it still caused a large amount of damage around them, sending them flying even further back with the shockwaves of the attack.

After a few seconds, Luffy got up, and saw that his crew was a little slower to do so. Luffy thought it was because he could absorb the shock better (being made of rubber and all), and called to them. Soon enough, they got up, but all of them seemed to be scattered all around him right at the edge of the forest.

Before any orders could be called by Luffy, Kaido burst through the woodlands and yelled, "There you are!"

Luffy looked and asked earnestly, "Who are you?"

Hancock seemed to recognize him immediately, though, and said, "Luffy, that's Razeden Kaido, one of the Yonko!"

"So you're Kaido?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know who you are and I don't care," Kaido said to Luffy. "Where, however, is Ridge Carrison?"

Luffy almost immediately sprang into action, launching an extending fist towards Kaido, which he easily dodged. "As if I'd tell you that!" he laughed.

His arm came back and he yelled to his scattered crew, "Everyone, split up and do whatever you can to help Ridge out! I don't think he's gonna be coming back here anymore once he sees what's happened to his house!"

"But what about you?" yelled Nami.

Luffy smirked. "I'm gonna do Ridge's job for him and kick this guy's ass!"

"Big words, little man," Kaido said humorlessly.

"No Luffy, don't fight him alone!" pleaded Hancock. "He has the power of the Flu-Flu Fruit, and can infect you with any kind of disease he wants!"

"Sanji, take care of her please!" Luffy called, and Sanji got the message, running towards the pleading Hancock and picking her up.

"Put me down you savage!" she said, attempting to break from his grip.

"Split up and be safe guys!" Luffy said, not even looking at them anymore. "And be sure to meet at the Hydrox Isle so we can go and kick Victor's ass too!"

"You crazy kid," Zoro muttered, before yelling: "Aye-Aye Captain!"

"Be careful Luffy!" Usopp pleaded.

"Don't die on us!" Nami added.

"Good luck Captain," Sanji said (with the still-struggling Hancock over his shoulder).

Luffy nodded. "Now scatter!"

With that, they all ran in separate directions, each bound for different isles to help out with the cause of rebellion; Luffy was the only one who stayed, facing the massive Kaido.

"So you seek Victor, eh?" Kaido said. "I don't much care what happens to him, but I'll only ask one more time: where can I find Ridge Carrison?"

"You might as well stop asking," Luffy said, throwing both his arms back and stretching them. "Because I'm not gonna tell you the answer! Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

Sparks flew as Luffy and Kaido squared off in a death-match that would rock the very isle they were fighting on.

* * *

Clash with a Yonko!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	53. The Frenzied Flurry

To the battleground! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**53: The Frenzied Flurry**

"Report has just come in of a group of Plague Pirates coming up on us!"

"How many are coming?"

"At least two score!"

"Captain Orion, what should we do?"

The Captain of the band of rebels in the Ornea Square—an isle close to that of Sylar City—Captain Orion by name, rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Finally, he looked at the and said, "Get ready to strike!"

The ragtag group of rebels cheered as they grabbed their weapons and stood prepared, waiting for the evident strike of the group of Plague Pirates. Orion turned towards one member and asked, "I hope you can hold your own in a fight."

"Yohohoho, don't worry about me!" Brook the Skeleton laughed. "I've done quite a lot of it in my day!"

Orion pulled out his trademark blade and smirked. "Good, then I have a better use for you than just a foot soldier…"

The Plague Pirates were walking around, cautious of the area they were entering. It looked like a rather small village, and where they were entering was an open courtyard with white tiles laid beneath them and a large intricate fountain in the middle of it all. Surrounding the entire courtyard was a solid block of two-story houses, almost all of them with closed windows; this is what concerned them the most.

The head of the pack looked and saw a rather strange sight. Sitting right at the head of the fountain was a skeleton wearing a suit, keeled over with a violin in one hand and a cane in the other. The forty men moved forward cautiously and the leader touched the skeleton.

"Hey, don't do that, he's fuckin' dead!" one of the men said. "You'll catch a disease or something!"

"That's a laugh, coming from someone who serves under a pirate who uses the Flu-Flu Fruit!" one of them yelled from the group.

Just then, Brook tilted his head and looked at the group. "Yohoho, why it looks like I've got some visitors here today!"

The entire group turned their attention to the talking skeleton, as they obviously reacted with shock. "What the fuck are you?"

"Why, I'm Brook the Skeleton, and it's a pleasure to meet you!"

_"Why are you a skeleton and still alive?"_ they all seemed to yell at once.

Brook shook an uninterested hand towards them in a shooing motion, and stated, "Don't worry about that. I'm actually a traveling musician. Would you like to hear my music?"

Before anyone could say anything, Brook took their answer as a yes and began to play his violin. "Lullaby Parry!" he said, and before anyone knew it, all of the men felt drowsy and fell asleep almost instantly.

Brook laughed at this as Orion and his men appeared out of the surrounding buildings and went to disarm and capture the men. "Yohoho! Music is power!" Brook said with a laugh.

"Thanks for your help," Orion said. "You really saved us a lot of bloodshed."

Before Brook could respond, he saw what looked to be a few straggling Plague Pirates peering out in the distance to see the sight. They immediately recognized what it was and began to flee, hoping to report.

"Hey, wait!" Brook yelled as he began to chase after the few culprits. "I won't let you get away! I can run faster than any normal human because I'm all bones! Yohohoho!"

"Wait Brook!" one of the rebels yelled.

"Leave him be," Orion commanded. "He can handle himself, and besides—" He kicked at a few fallen men who were being tied up, "—we've got more important things to worry about right now."

— — —

Captain Ralston paced back and forth near Myndir Village as the engineers and mechanics were putting the finishing touches on the final last stand for the rebels in case—as Julia put it so eloquently—the "shit hits the fan." He knew the responsibility of being the last bastion of hope for the entire revolution, and he took that roll very seriously. So just to be on the safe side, he put another order in with Julia to get a shipment of lumber and steel.

What he didn't expect, however, was for this strange woman to be bringing it to him.

Robin had delivered it as ordered, and after Ralston divvied up the supplies as they were needed, Robin said that Beau told her to report to him after. Ralston by his very nature was a superstitious man, and when he saw Robin coming in carrying the supplies with all of those extra arms, he immediately distrusted her.

"I don't know how you can help," he said flatly. "If you want, you can just wait around here. I'd imagine we're gonna be in for a bit of a fight when everything goes down."

"Fine," Robin said, not really caring much for this man, or their mission. She was simply holding up her end of the bargain with Beau so she could find Luffy and the others when all of this was said and done.

She didn't even get twenty minutes in before scouts spotted the first patrol of Plague Pirates coming. Ralston ordered everyone to their stations and told them to employ the first line of defense for Myndir.

Being the last bastion of hope, Ralston had taken special precautions to keep people away for as long as possible. The first line of defense was what the rebels called "Ironsides," and he ordered his men to get into position.

The Ironsides were set right at the border of Myndir Village and took the form as a set harmless-looking bamboo sticks, but what the enemies didn't see was that there were a set of strings attached to the end and holding the end of the strings were a few rebels.

"Alright men, standby," Ralston said on a den-den mushi. "In three…two…one!"

With that, all of the rebels pulled the string, and quick as lightning, a series of sharpened iron shafts flew out and immediately found themselves buried in the chests of the hapless Plague Pirates. Surprise hit the front-runners, as they coughed up blood and simply fell to the floor.

Undeterred by this, the pirates pressed on, moving past the ten or so dead men who fell victim to the Ironsides. Ralston expected this, and walked by Robin.

"Now's your time to shine," he said bluntly. "Follow me."

Robin obeyed as they moved down into the basement of one of the houses and through the wall, Robin could see a large burrowed tunnel. They walked through it (along with several other rebels) and Robin stared as she saw what seemed to be a brilliant array of underground tunnels.

"Remarkable," she commented.

Ralston smirked. "We use this to get around undetected. So far, it's been a massive help!"

They stopped at what looked to be a dead-end and saw around twenty or so rebels squatting there, looking out of slits to see what's going on up top. "What's the report?" Ralston asked.

"We got them coming, and fast!" one said.

Ralston took out a pair of pistols and smiled. "Good; let them come!" He turned towards Robin. "You ready?"

"For what?" she asked.

"Just wait and you'll see!"

The Plague Pirates kept moving, and when they were a good three feet away, Ralston ordered the attack, and almost immediately, the ground right in front of the pirates disappeared ("Simply a clever guise," Ralston said to Robin) and all of the rebels came out yelling with weapons in their hands.

The pirates took by surprise recoiled for a second, but it didn't take long for them to recover and attack, but that second was all the rebels needed to get the advantage. Robin turned out to be a massive benefit (much to Ralston's surprise), and within a minute or two, the group of Plague Pirates were either dead or captured.

"That'll teach anyone to try and penetrate Myndir!" scoffed Ralston.

Then, his miniature den-den mushi went off and he picked it up. "Captain!" the voice on the other end said.

"What is it?"

"We've spotted another intruder!"

"More pirates?"

"No, it's a single person—and a female to boot! She seems to be wielding some kind of baton. What should we do?"

"Baton?" Robin repeated, then it dawned on her. "Don't attack her!" she immediately shouted to Ralston.

"What?"

"I think she's a friend," Robin explained. "Let me go and confirm it."

After a few seconds, Ralston nodded and Robin was away, hoping the woman with the baton was indeed Nami.

— — —

Zoro wasn't known to be the best with his directions. After Luffy ordered the crew to split up, he just went running randomly in one direction, and soon enough (though not quite soon enough for Zoro), he came across a stone bridge connecting two isles and crossed it. There, he was angered to see more woodland, but knew he couldn't do anything and began to go through it.

"This better be the way to the Hydrox Isle," he muttered under his breath, when in fact he was going the exact opposite way of it.

After a few minutes of traveling through the woods, it began to clear up a bit, but trees still surrounded him on all sides. Then, he began to smell and all-too-familiar smell, and after hearing a particular noise, he immediately ducked.

His instincts turned out correct as a sword flew by right where his neck would have been, and imbedded itself into the tree right in front of Zoro. He immediately dove out of the way and pulled out one of his own swords. He looked upon his enemy and saw none other than Shiryu of the Rain standing there, smirking at Zoro and pulling his sword out of the tree.

"How'd you know I was behind you?" he asked with the same smirk. "I thought I was extra careful not to make noise."

"I'm way too familiar with the smell of smoke," Zoro said, thinking of Sanji, and he continued, "and being a swordsman myself, I'm also way too familiar with the sound of a sword being brought out of its sheath. In short, you were quiet, but not quiet enough."

Shiryu kept his smile and simply said, "Such a shame…You must be Roronoa Zoro of the Straw Hat Crew."

"Oh, you know me?" questioned Zoro. "I guess my bounty really is getting me noticed."

Shiryu shook his head. "Didn't know you through that, sorry. I only recognize you because Victor showed me all of the Straw Hat crew and told us that if we see you, then we have to kill you on sight."

"Victor must be pretty frightened of us," shot back Zoro.

"Indeed."

Zoro took out all three of his blades and said, "If he ordered you to fight to the death, then I guess we have no choice but to fight."

Shiryu's cigar smoke drifted into the air as he responded with, "I guess you're right…"

Zoro put on his bandana and stuck Wado Ichimonji in his mouth. "Then may the best man win!"

Without wasting another breath, they clashed blades.

— — —

"I said put me down!"

Boa Hancock finally got the better of Sanji's stamina, and with one more swift kick to his back, he finally jolted and fell to the ground, rubbing his back and freeing Hancock.

"Ouch! Watch it will ya?"

"Hmph!" Hancock scoffed. "If you weren't a member of Luffy's crew, I would turn you into stone right now."

"Thanks for the consideration," replied Sanji humorlessly.

Hancock looked around and saw what amounted to an open meadow. "Now where are we and tell me how to get back; I have to help Luffy!"

Sanji lit a cigarette and said, "Hell if I know how to get back. I just ran my ass off to get outta that damned forest."

"What?" was her reply. "How could you be so idiotic?"

"Maybe you should have been paying attention," Sanji stated flatly.

Hancock responded angrily. "I would have if you weren't carrying me the whole way!"

"Which was my pleasure by the way," Sanji said, temporarily reverting to his old form, turning his eyes into hearts.

Hancock landed a swift kick to the side of his face, sending him to the floor. "How dare you? Don't even think about anything like that!"

Sanji wiped the blood off of his face and asked himself, "Why are the most beautiful ones always the strongest?"

Hancock took offense to this and began to move towards him in order to strike him again. "Now listen you! While I may be the most beautiful woman in the world, I happen to think all men are scum—except for that man—who are—"

She couldn't get any farther as the distance between her and Sanji was immediately cut off when something flew out of the ground with a sharp object in an attempt to kill Hancock.

"Hah!"

She immediately leapt back and Sanji immediately leapt into action, as the person landed on the ground to reveal drills for arms. He kept his back turned to them.

"And here I thought I'd done enough work for him, but no, Victor needed me to help weed out some of the enemies," he said to himself. "So why am I here trying to kill two youngsters just because Victor told me they were on his personal hit list?"

He turned around to reveal himself to be Pizarro, and Hancock recognized him almost immediately.

"You're…" she started.

"Who's he?" Sanji demanded.

"He's the Corrupt King Abalo Pizarro," she answered. "He was a famous leader who's deeds were so awful they were simply erased from history."

Pizarro smirked. "Nice to know someone recognizes me. Come to think of it, were you at the Battle of Marineford?"

Hancock remained silent.

"I see…" Pizarro said, before his two arms (currently turned into drills) began to move again, and he immediately dove for the ground, burrowing into it and disappearing almost immediately.

"What the…" Sanji started.

"Be careful!" Hancock warned. "He's eaten the Drill-Drill Fruit, and can dig through anything with ease!"

Sanji lit a new cigarette and said, "Drill-Drill Fruit, eh? What a pain…"

Before anything else could be said, Pizarro appeared again with his drills ready to strike, this time they were aimed towards Sanji. He quickly dodged them and got away with a scratch on his arm. Pizarro landed a few feet away and chuckled.

"Not bad kid, I might get a little fun out of this yet…"

— — —

Usopp quickly dove to the ground as a stray bullet flew by him. He let out a startled cry and tried to crawl away. The Plague Pirates and a few rebels were fighting, and he could tell by the noise that they were pretty close.

"I just wanna get to the Hydrox Isle…" he muttered.

As soon as he got up, he saw one pirate running towards him, out of breath and glancing backwards. Usopp barely had time to notice him and the pirate didn't notice Usopp at all, and due to that, he tripped over him almost immediately and hit the ground with a grunt.

Before Usopp could say anything, he heard: "Yohohoho! You can't escape me!"

Then, bursting through the underbrush was none other than Brook the Skeleton, and Usopp was quite glad to see him.

"Brook!" he cried with joy.

"Huh? Usopp!" Brook said, immediately forgetting about the pirate who was now scrambling away.

"You're on this island too?" Usopp was forced to ask.

Brook only nodded, but before anything else could be said, they heard a massive laugh.

_"Ha ha ha ha ha! You can't kill me!"_

They heard several gunshots, and decided to go and investigate. They peeked through to see Basco Shot standing there, a pistol in one hand and a jug of alcohol in the other, peering over several wounded rebels, laughing and mocking them.

"Shit, he looks tough!" Usopp said. "Best not to mess with him and go straight to the Hydrox Isle. What do you think Br—"

"Stop right there with that behavior!" Brook demanded, already out in the open and pointing his sword towards him.

Usopp felt that he could cry at that moment.

"Who's this?" Basco asked with a chuckle.

— — —

"Robin! I can't believe it's you!" Nami said, immediately hugging the relieved Robin. "I can't believe you're on this island too!"

"I'm surprised we found each other in such a strange way," Robin smiled. "Either way, I'm glad to see you again. How'd you get here?"

"We split up from Luffy," she explained, "and I went wandering through the forest, and next thing I know is that I'm here."

"Well, it's good that—"

Before Robin could finish, a massive spear came flying towards them spinning like a buzz-saw. They both noticed this and dropped to the floor. The spear continued until it hit a few scattered trees (shattering their trunks in the process) and stopped. Both women looked up to see someone leap over them and land by the spear, picking it up easily.

"Who in the…" Nami started.

"Murunfufufu," they heard, and looked to see Catarina Devon there, spear in one hand, iron-woven net in the other. "Sorry, I couldn't resist a little sneak attack."

"Do you know who this is Robin?" asked Nami.

"Don't know, and don't care," was Robin's response. "All I know is that I want to get rid of her as fast as possible so we can go and find the rest of the crew."

Nami gripped her Perfect Clima-Tact and said, "Sounds good to me!"

Devon chuckled. "You kiddies think you can take me? That's a laugh!"

Both Robin and Nami didn't even give a response, as they both immediately went into action, hoping to dispatch of Devon quickly.

* * *

Showdown on the Isles!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	54. The King, the Drunk, and the Gentleman

Brook and Usopp vs. the Great Drinker. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**54: The King, the Drunk, and the Gentleman**

Brook looked around quickly, hoping to find a sign of Usopp, but ultimately seeing nothing. Despite this, he held his sword up, pointing it at his adversary simply known as Basco Shot, willing to hold his ground against the large man.

Basco only continued to smile, however, as he looked at Brook and said, "A skeleton, eh? That's pretty interesting."

"That's a surprisingly normal reaction," said Brook, still holding his ground.

"I've seen stranger things in this world," Basco replied. "I suppose you're going to fight me now, then?"

Brook looked over at the group of fallen and wounded rebels, staring back at Basco and replying with confidence, "Yes, I am."

Basco chuckled as he took a large swig from his gourd of alcohol. Then, he hid it behind him, and then, quick as lightning, he pulled his hand back out again revealing a large pistol. Not wasting any time, he fired a shot.

Brook was taken aback by this, but he half-expected it, so he was prepared as well, as he quickly dashed a little bit towards Basco and hopped up, leading him to incredible heights.

"Flying Swallow Leap Forward!" said Brook triumphantly as he was right above Basco by a few feet.

"Oho…"

With that, Brook rushed immediately downwards, spinning at incredible speeds right towards Basco. Although Basco was large, he moved quick enough to get out of the way, leaving Brook to only hit the ground (which caused it to shatter beneath him). Knowing he wouldn't get another chance, Brook quickly pulled his sword out and rushed towards the retreating Basco.

"Three-Verse Humming: Arrow-Notch Slash!"

Brook moved at astonishing speeds, but Basco sensed this, and right before Brook struck, he brought his gun up and parried the blow, stopping it dead in its tracks.

"What…" Brook started.

A gunshot cracked, however, as Basco was able to pull out another pistol with his free hand and shoot Brook right in the chest. He staggered backwards slightly, and then fell to the floor on his back. Basco stood there with a sneer, towering over him like a leviathan.

"Pretty good techniques you got there Skeleton," said Basco, taking a quick drink from his gourd before securing it again. "You seem like you've got a lot of experience in your days—however long ago that might have been—but too bad for you, that I'm more experienced than you."

Meanwhile, Usopp watched all of this from the brush, as a concerned look appeared on his face. _"Shit, this guy's strong!" _he thought to himself. _"He was even able to stop Brook's sword technique with just a gun! What should I do?"_

Basco held his gun out right to Brook's head and said with a psychotic grin, "Lucky for you, I always like to learn the name of the victims I kill. So how 'bout it Skeleton, what's your name?"

"I'm Brook the Gentleman," he replied with a grimace.

Basco let out a raucous laugh—so much that his massive tongue lolled out—and then stated, "Nice to meet you Brook. I'm the Mighty Drunk Basco Shot, and I don't expect you to have heard of me; my deeds were erased from history itself. Goodbye!"

Before Basco could pull the trigger, a large lead pellet struck Basco in the shoulder (bouncing off of his skin, leaving a welt), causing him to wince. He immediately looked towards where it came from, and saw none other than Sogeking standing there, trying to look as heroic as possible.

Brook looked at him with a strange mix of relief and joy, when Basco immediately turned to him. "Who the fuck are you?" he asked angrily.

"I'm the heroic figure known as Sogeking!" he replied, trying to put on a brave voice (despite his shaking knees). "And I won't let you pick on the innocent anymore!"

Basco didn't even bother to reply as he quickly pulled out his other pistol and aimed it at Sogeking, turning his attention away from Brook. The skeleton took this advantage and quickly said, "Dawn Serenade: Right-Handed Strike!"

He quickly thrust his sword up towards Basco, piercing his right shoulder and creating a strong compression of wind, sending him skidding back several feet away from both of them. Basco cursed as he grounded himself with one of his hands, eventually stopping himself.

"So you still got life in you, eh?" he asked with an angered grin.

"Yohohoho!" laughed Brook. "Luckily that bullet passed right through my bones and I was completely unharmed. I was just waiting for the right moment to strike!" Secretly, he didn't expect the appearance of such a strange masked hero.

He turned to Sogeking and said, "You have my thanks. Though I must ask, where did you come from?"

"I happen to be a friend of Usopp's," responded Sogeking. "He told me that I should help you, and that he needed to go and help the others."

"What a brave soul," Brook said. "As are you, my friend. I shall create a ballad in your honor when this is done."

"Focus on the present for now," Sogeking warned. "We got him with two surprise attacks, but I don't think that will happen again."

Basco took a quick swig from his gourd before touching his wounded shoulder. "That was a powerful strike Brook," he said. "No doubt if it were a normal human, their arm would have flown off. Fortunately for me though, I have unnaturally thick skin, and I got away with what only amounted to a scratch."

As soon as he finished, he drew his pistol and fired a shot. Sogeking stood there amazed as he felt the bullet scratch his left arm, leaving a nasty-looking gash as blood freely flew from it.

"I lack any kind of techniques like you," said the grinning Basco, "but what I _do_ have is the ability to draw and shoot faster than anyone I've ever known."

Brook didn't want to take anymore as he used his unnatural speed to rush towards Basco. The Great Drunk managed to crack off a quick shot, but it simply went through Brook as if it were nothing. The skeleton brought his sword down and Basco blocked it with his gun again.

"Too bad shooting won't work on me," said Brook, "just one of the many advantages of being made of bones."

Basco responded with a massive smash with the back of his fist towards Brook's chest, sending him spitting out blood and skidding backwards, gripping his chest.

"Brook!" Sogeking yelled. He held up his weapon Kabuto and said, "Sunflower Star!"

Five pentagon pellets flew towards Basco, and he quickly used his two pistols to shoot all of them down, having them explode in the air. Sogeking ducked in recoil, and when the smoke cleared, Basco stood there grinning with his guns pointed at him.

"Polka Remise!"

Brook was suddenly in front of him and thrust his sword several times in an attempt to hit him. A few were able to hit him, causing minor injuries, but Basco was able to dodge them for the most part. He smiled as he quickly smashed Brook across his face, sending him flying to the floor.

Sogeking was up by now as he readied Kabuto again. "Super Smoke Star!"

Smoke suddenly erupted between Basco and Brook, as Sogeking yelled: "Brook, retreat for now!"

Brook didn't need to be told twice as he knew their current strategy wasn't working. He quickly leapt out of the smokescreen towards Sogeking, while Basco stood there and took the time to take another swig of his alcohol…

"This isn't working…" Sogeking said to Brook, taking refuge in some underbrush by them. "We need a strategy."

"What would you suggest?" asked Brook.

"I've been thinking of something, and I don't know if it's gonna work," replied Sogeking. "We're gonna need to use both of our strengths together. Think we can do that?"

Brook nodded. "Better than nothing."

"Well then, listen up…"

— — —

The smokescreen had cleared by now, leaving Basco standing there alone chuckling to himself. "It won't matter what you plan," he called out. "Nothing is going to work. I clearly outmatch you both. Just give up and let me kill you already."

Getting no response, Basco sighed as he took out his gourd again. Right before it touched his lips, however, a lead pellet flew from the brush and hit it dead on, shattering it almost instantly and sending shards flying into his face while spraying him with the alcohol that was once inside of it.

Despite this, he seemed mildly annoyed as he looked up to see both Brook and Sogeking stood there out in the open. "Was that your plan?" he asked with a laugh. "To mildly annoy me by destroying my booze?"

He held up both his guns and aimed it at the two of them. "Now!" Brook yelled to Sogeking, who complied.

He pulled out a dial and yelled, "Flash Dial!"

Suddenly, a large flash of light appeared, blinding the unprepared Basco, but both Brook and Sogeking were ready. "Now!" yelled Sogeking.

Brook bounded forward with his sword ready. Basco was just recovering to see Brook right in front of him, about to slash him. Instinctually, Basco brought his gun up to defend himself, but Brook expected this as he yelled, "Prelude: After!"

He immediately brought down a powerful strike that cut Basco's gun in half and giving his hand a good gash. Before he could react, Brook already leapt out of there, leaving Sogeking standing a good distance away with Kabuto ready.

"Have you ever heard of a Breath Dial?" smirked Sogeking.

"What?" was all the confused Basco could mutter.

"It stores smells," explained Sogeking. "However, when used strategically, it can be used to store gas; to be more specific, flammable gas."

Basco looked to see a strange-looking device not but a few feet away from him. "When did you…"

"When you were distracted by the Flash Dial and Brook's attack," replied Sogeking. "Oh, and I should hope you know that alcohol burns as well."

Basco immediately understood as he felt the alcohol on his skin from the earlier attack. He knew what Sogeking was about to do, and quickly used his non-wounded hand to bring up his other gun, ready to end Sogeking's life.

Too late.

"Firebird Star!" yelled Sogeking, firing his Kabuto.

A massive phoenix was summoned carrying a ring of fire, and as soon as it hit the gas emanating from the Breath Dial, a massive explosion took place, engulfing the screaming Basco entirely.

Brook landed back to Sogeking, as he asked, "How long will it burn?"

"Not long," he replied, "which is why we gotta hurry."

"Right!" Brook said, readying his sword.

The fire did die down relatively quickly, and when it did, it revealed a charred Basco, not quite unconscious, but clearly wounded by the attack. He stared at both Brook and Sogeking with empty eyes.

"Dawn Serenade: Right-Handed Strike!" Brook yelled, shoving his sword and its impact right towards Sogeking's palm.

When that was done, Sogeking ran towards the still-standing Basco shot with his arm held out. In his palm, it was revealed that he had an Impact Dial in his hand, and as soon as Sogeking got close, he said:

"Lights out, Basco! Impact!"

With that, he released all of the dial's stored energy onto Basco's chest, sending him flying several feet (and Sogeking flying in the other direction), where he landed on his back with a thud, blood flowing from his mouth and nose onto his charred flesh. As Sogeking and Brook recovered, Basco laid there, his tongue lolled out and the whites of his eyes staring at the sky…

_"How many times have I told you not to go through Mommy's things!"_

— — —

_A resounding crack flew through the air as the hand connected to a young Basco's face. He instantly recoiled and held his red cheek, tears ready to spring from his eyes._

_"I've told you a thousand times not to go rifling through my things!" Basco's mother nearly yelled to her only child. "And here I though that at the age of thirteen you'd be smart by now!"_

_"I'm sorry Momma…" apologized Basco, still rubbing his wounded cheek._

_Basco's mother took a shot of alcohol and gave him one final quick kick to his shin, causing him to cry out in pain. "That's to make sure you don't do it again!" she said, justifying herself. "Now I'm gonna go out for a while. Until then, stay here and don't do anything stupid!"_

_"Momma, are you going to the bar again?" asked Basco._

_"It's none of your fucking business!" she seemed to yell before walking through the door and slamming it shut._

_Basco stood silent for a second, before finally moving to his own room. _

_Basco was a single child, being raised by a single parent—his mother as it seemed—and while they were "poor as dirt" (as Basco's childhood companions put it), his mother always seemed to find spare cash to keep all manners of liquor around the house, and still had enough to go to the bar every night._

_Basco—while called "slow" and "stupid" by his mother (among other things)—was not ignorant. He knew where his mother kept the alcohol locked up, and as soon as she left, he always found a way to transport it from their kitchen to his room. There, he would drink all he could before his mother got home._

_He was told that his father was a drunk before abandoning his mother and him, and Basco just imagined that drinking ran in the family genes. Basco didn't drink, however, because he felt some genetic reason to. No, he drank because he thought it helped to dull the pain, the pain of getting abused by his drunken mother both physically and mentally._

_After finishing off the last of the liquor he had stored in his room, Basco reached under his mattress and pulled out a single-shot flintlock pistol. Basco grew up in a rough neighborhood on an even rougher island in the Grand Line. It was the kind of place where seeing a body in the street was the norm. Basco happened to come across one that had a gun hidden in the back of his pants, and he happily took it and brought it home, hiding it in his room so his mother couldn't find it._

_He felt he had drank enough, and finally, he stuck the pistol to his head, holding it there for several seconds. His mother was right, he was stupid and good-for-nothing, and imagine how great it would be to finally end it all; to get away from the suffering and the death and the smell of alcohol twenty-four seven. It seemed like a marvelous dream too good to come true._

_This is what a voice in Basco's head told him to do, and after a few minutes, Basco relaxed his grip and brought the pistol down. No matter how much he drank or how hard he tried, he found that he could never get the courage to do it. His mother was right, he really was a gutless coward who would never amount to—_

_A marvelous idea popped into Basco's head._

_This time, it came in the sound of another voice—one that wasn't as cynical and depressed as the other, but much happier and more upbeat. Basco liked this one much better._

_It told him things, and after a few more drinks (stolen from the kitchen again), Basco smiled as he knew what he had to do…_

_His mother came home when it was late, stumbling over her shoes in a drunken state. She let out a little hiccup before peering into the darkness._

_"Basco, you there?" she called._

_Oh, Basco was there all right, but he wasn't about to let her know that._

_"If you're asleep before I am," she threatened, "then you're in for a world of hurt! How many times have I told you that if you sleep before I do, you'll get a beating?"_

_She stumbled into the kitchen (hoping to get another drink of course), before she looked at the kitchen table to see Basco sitting there, a brooding look on his face with a glass of alcohol to the side of him._

_"Oh, Basco, I didn't see you," she said with a small laugh. "I thought you were—"_

_BANG!_

_That's all it took, and Basco was finally free of that woman…_

_With no more family or home, Basco left that pisswater town on that shithole of an island with a small dinghy he purchased (with money stolen from his house, of course). It wasn't long before Basco formed his own little crew and began his fearsome pirate career._

_Despite being free from his mother, he still held bitter resentment of everything about him, and as such, he drowned out his sorrows in alcohol and was excessively cruel to his victims, just to see what it was like in the other position (which, he must admit, he rather enjoyed). He soon did deeds so vile and cruel that they were erased from history himself, and when the Marines finally caught up with him, drunk on his pirate ship, he was sentenced to Level Six of Impel Down, where they intended to have him rot forever…_

— — —

"Momma…is this your punishment…" he muttered, surprising both Brook and Sogeking.

Basco shot stood up, his eyes bloodshot and blood fleeing from his body, his breathing ragged, and his skin ached with a terrible burn. Despite this, Basco still stood, ready to keep on fighting.

_("I've told you a thousand times not to go rifling through my things!")_

"I'm sorry Momma…" he whispered to himself, slowly walking towards both Brook and Sogeking. "I'll make it up to ya Momma…I promise…"

He held up his one remaining gun and pointed it towards them. Brook reacted instantly, springing into action and rushing towards Basco with massive speed.

"Three-Verse Humming: Arrow-Notch Slash!"

With that, Brook sped past him, as Basco simply stood there, dumbfounded and unable to react. Then, a massive slash appeared diagonally across his chest and blood willingly sprayed out. He stared at this wide-eyed

_(the pain of getting abused by his drunken mother both physically and mentally)_

not seeming to register it right away. He looked back at Brook with a look of shock and asked deliriously, "Momma…"

With that, he fell forward and landed on his chest, blood flowing out around him. He looked to see both Brook and Sogeking gathering together again. They were victorious; even the half-insane Basco could see that.

_"I'm sorry Momma…" _he thought as his eyes began to close. _"I'll stop drinkin' if…if you stop all of the pain…Please make the pain go away…Momma…Mo—"_

Basco fainted, as both Brook and Sogeking looked at each other. They both, without them knowing it, smiled, knowing they had won the battle against the Great Drunk Basco Shot, and it wasn't their brute strength or raw power that beat him, oh no.

It was their combined techniques along with a sound strategy that won them the day.

* * *

Strategy counts for more than just brute strength!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	55. The Powers of Flowers and Lightning

An introspection to the past. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**55: The Powers of Flowers and Lightning**

_"We've finally cornered her, Vice-Admiral Garp!" a young marine had said to the middle-aged commanding officer._

_Garp, still young enough to have black in his hair, clenched his teeth and asked, "Where's she holed up in?"_

_"In the Pumbra City Marine Base sir!" was the marine's response._

_Garp was immediately on the move, taking an entire battalion of battle-trained marines with him. "Attacking a marine base? What the hell is the Crescent Moon Hunter thinking?"_

_Garp stopped himself and his men right outside of the marine base, and gave a final warning to his men. "I don't think I need to tell you why you have to be careful on this one. Need I remind you that this woman—Catarina Devon—has gone down in history as the worst woman pirate alive. Be on your guard!"_

_The men gave a rousing cheer and with that, Garp kicked the wooden gates to the base in, revealing the courtyard._

_The cheering immediately stopped as they saw a sight they would not soon (and probably never) forget. Strewn throughout the courtyard were the bodies of dozens of marine soldiers, all dead. The courtyard ground was literally dyed with blood as all manner of weapons stuck out from the ground and few sounds, save for a few sounds from the barely-alive, were made._

_Garp steeled himself against this sight, and finally stepped forward onto the marine base. It was quite easy to tell where Devon was, as she made no attempt to hide her presence. There, sitting upon a pile of dead marine bodies, Crescent Moon Hunter Catarina Devon sat there, her trademark spear in one hand, with an iron net in the other. Her clothes were covered with blood, and she looked down at Garp with a wide grin._

_"Murunfufufu, how nice of you to join me," she said. "I guess their screams tipped you off to where I was…"_

_"Crescent Moon Hunter Catarina Devon," Garp said quietly. "Worst female pirate in known history, yet to be a pirate, I suppose you would have to have a crew, but of course everyone knows you as a lone-killer, traveling from town to town to slaughter anyone you see fit."_

_"Murunfufu, having a crew would be too troublesome," Devon chuckled. "After a while, they would get on my nerves, and then I'd kill them for being annoying, so it's for the best that I go solo."_

_"Known as the Crescent Moon Hunter because she always hunts down any stragglers when she attacks," Garp continued, not paying heed to her. "I, Marine Vice-Admiral Garp, under the order of the World Government, place you under arrest. But first I'd like to know, what prompted you to go on such a heedless slaughter of a marine base?"_

_Devon took a few seconds, but she finally answered, "Well, I just like to shake things up a bit."_

_Garp flinched._

_"Things are so boring when they're monotonous and continuous, don't you agree?" she asked with a smirk. "My sole purpose in life is to shake up all life as we all know it, and what better way to do that than to slaughter entire villages and bases?"_

_Garp cracked his fists and motioned to his battalion behind him. _

_"Enough talk!" he roared, before flinging himself towards the Hunter._

— — —

"Such good times…" Devon seemed to whisper to herself. "I did used to have such fun…"

"What?" asked the panting Nami, her hand on the ground to stabilize herself.

Both Robin and Nami seemed to have grossly underestimated Devon's power. They went to rush in as quickly as possible, hoping to end the fight quickly, but Devon turned out to be a bit too much for them, as she effortlessly dodged their attacks and sent them flying back.

"Nothing," Devon quickly replied. "It's nothing you need to concern yourself with, I assure you."

Robin, who was right besides Nami, said, "We have to be careful. We're both mid-to-long range fighter, while this woman uses a spear and a net to wound her opponent, meaning she's a close-range fighter."

Devon shouldered her spear and said, "Come on, then, if you're not gonna make a move, then I will. Oh, and I'm Catarina Devon by the way, nice to meet you."

"Let's try this!" Robin said, moving her arms towards Devon. "Seis Fleurs!"

Six arms suddenly appeared by Devon, and she seemed to be taken completely by surprise. Before Robin could do anything, however, Devon reacted almost effortlessly, slicing off the three arms closest to her with her spear, sending them falling to the floor, and Robin recoiling in pain.

"Robin!" Nami shrieked, preparing her Perfect Clima-Tact. "Thunder Charge!" A thunder ball appeared at the end of the baton, and she spun it around several times, creating a powerful bolt of electricity. "Swing Arm!"

The electricity flew towards Devon, but she once again effortlessly brought her iron net up to absorb all of the shock before quickly dropping it to the ground so the electricity didn't transfer to her. Nami stood shocked as Devon picked the net up again and leapt towards Nami, appearing right in front of her.

In a desperate attempt to defend herself, Nami swung the Clima-Tact, but Devon simply leapt over here and landed right behind her. Before Nami knew what happened, a wound on her shoulder opened up, sending blood spraying. Nami fell to the ground and gripped her shoulder, but Robin was already back in action again.

"Veinte Fleur!" she shouted, sprouting twenty arms.

Ten appeared on each of Robin's arms, however, as she used them to form a giant fists, which she then threw towards Devon. Thinking fast, Devon brought up her iron net and caught one of her fists into it before slamming it into the ground and putting it out of commission. Using her spear, she then dodged the other fist and cut it in half, causing Robin more pain.

She didn't stop there, however, as she leapt towards Robin again and cut her across her right thigh, causing her to fall to the floor in pain. Devon raised up her spear to finish her off, but she was blocked by Nami's Clima-Tact.

Before Devon could look towards Nami, she noticed there was an electric ball at the end of the baton. A glint appeared in Nami's eye as she said, "Swing Arm!"

She threw her baton up and brought an instant shock of electricity towards Devon, causing her to take a few steps back in recoil. Nami and Robin used this moment to retreat and regroup.

"Shit, she's really strong!" stated a panting Nami. "She's been able to counter everything we've thrown at her."

"She reacts without any kind of effort," Robin added. "It's as if she just acts on _instincts_ to attack us."

Devon recovered at this point, and all she had was slight burns; nothing that could slow her down. Instead, she chuckled and said, "Is that all? I thought it would hurt a lot more."

"Ocho Fleur!" Robin immediately shouted, sprouting eight arms on Devon.

Not giving her any time to react, Robin used all eight arms to upright Devon from her spot and flipped her so she landed on her head with a resounding smash. Robin didn't want to give up, as she shouted, "Cien Fleur! Big Tree!"

One-hundred arms formed together to make a massive tree over Robin. Devon, who was just getting up from the ground, looked up just enough before she saw it crashing down upon her.

"Nami, finish it now!" Robin yelled.

"Right!" Nami said, as she connected her Clima-Tact to make an oblong two-piece shaped staff, which she threw at Devon, who was starting to stand up again.

The two pieces hit her dead-on, and with a powerful burst of air, sent her flying back several feet and landing on the ground with a hard thud. Nami quickly ran to pick up the two pieces, before coming back to Robin to survey the damage.

Much to both women's dismay, however, Devon stood up as if uninjured and cracked her neck, picking up her net and shouldering her spear. "You guys need to work on your attacks more," she said nonchalantly. "Sure, I _felt_ those attacks, but they weren't, you know, _powerful_."

"It's no use," a defeated Nami proclaimed. "She just takes all our attacks as if they're nothing. To top it all off, she can attack with deadly accuracy and precision. We're doomed if we try and take her head-on."

That's when the idea immediately popped into Robin's head. "I got it!" she proclaimed. "I have a plan Nami, but we can't be fighting here. Are you ready to run for now?"

Nami nodded. "Anything has to be better than this."

With that, both women took off, bolting in the other direction of the surprised Devon. "Hey, wait!" she shouted, as she began to run after them.

She was faster than them, and she would have captured them too, if it were not for the two hands that sprouted in the ground right in front of her and catching her legs, sending her sprawling to the floor at top speed. She recovered quickly, but she looked up to see both Robin and Nami in the distance, still sprinting at full speed.

Devon scowled. "They won't get away with this. I'll make sure to shake up their lives by ending them altogether!"

— — —

Everything was quiet at Myndir Village, and that was how Captain Ralston liked it. He had been getting calls on his den-den mushi of rebels trying to communicate with others, but non had specifically called upon use of him and his fort, which meant things were going well…or at least he hoped.

He had placed surveillance cameras all around the village and was monitoring everything. Obviously all of the citizens of the village were evacuated long ago, and as it stood, the only people in the town now were the rebels.

So, when Ralston got a call on his own personal den-den mushi and found out it was coming from within Myndir Village, he was surprised. He picked it up and one of his scouts said, "Captain, sorry to bother you, but it looks like Nico Robin and someone else are sprinting towards this village."

"Robin again?" asked Ralston with a grimace. "I thought she left."

"So did we sir, but apparently—hey!"

Static reigned on the den-den mushi for a few seconds before Ralston heard Robin's voice on the other end. "Hello? Is this Captain Ralston on the other side? Please respond, we need help urgently!"

Ralston could hear her staggered breath between words and finally said, "Yeah, I'm here. What do you want now Nico Robin?"

"Alright, listen," replied Robin. "We're currently being chased by someone by the name of Catarina Devon, and she's a very powerful foe—too powerful for us to beat on our own anyway. So as it stands, we're going to need your help to stop her."

"My help?" asked Ralston. "What the hell can I—"

"You have several traps set up in the village!" Robin yelled, cutting him off. "Just make use of them before this woman destroys the last bastion of hope for the rebels!"

After a few seconds, Ralston said, "Alright."

He quickly turned towards his surveillance men and turned it all to the front. "Standby with the Ironsides," he said. "Defense number one!"

Catarina Devon saw the village now, and put on an extra burst of speed. She had lost sight of both women, but she was confidence she could find them again. As she approached the outskirts, she saw that the town was completely deserted (at least in her field of vision). This struck her as strange, but she kept moving anyway.

Not a minute later when she was right about to enter the village, she hear a succession of sounds flying towards her. She looked and saw several sharpened metal poles flying towards her. She reacted quickly and used her spear and net in succession to ward off the worst of the damage, but she let one escape her grasp, and it buried itself right into her left leg. She let out a grunt of pain and cursed herself, but she quickly pulled it out, and, after seeing that the flurry of poles were gone, she kept moving forward.

She moved with a bit of a limp now, and blood ran freely from her leg, but Devon pushed it off, mentally saying that she would repay the women three times the pain she felt from that attack.

Robin and Nami were currently hiding in an alley between two buildings, and when they saw Devon limping unwittingly towards them, they went on the den-den mushi.

"That didn't stop her," Robin said. "What's next?"

"I know, I know," was the response. "Don't worry, we already got defense number two in place, and she's walking right into it."

Robin and Nami didn't question, as they had to keep moving.

Devon, meanwhile, was walking down a narrow street with houses on her left and right. She didn't care as she kept pressing onward, mindlessly moving her left and right leg back and forth, in an instinctual motion to move as fast as she—

Immediate pain coursed through her right foot as she felt it fall through the ground and land upon something sharp. Letting out another shriek of pain, Devon looked to see that she stepped over false covering on the ground that hid a rather large pit. At the bottom of the pit were several sharpened stakes, and it appeared as if Devon's foot had gone right through one. She quickly pulled her foot free, and despite the new pain coursing through her, she pressed on, thinking that

_(my sole purpose in life is to shake up all life as we all know it)_

she would repay her pain quadruple to the women when she came across them again. She moved off of the street into what seemed to be the open courtyard of the village. She looked warily on all sides, checking for any more traps, before moving forward again.

"Defense number three, go!" Ralston demanded to his men over the den-den mushi.

The rebels out in the village nodded as they stood on top of one of the buildings overlooking the courtyard. In front of them stood a massive amount of logs, all kept in one nice place and held together. When they got the order, they knocked down the makeshift wall that was holding them back and the logs came thundering down the roof of the building and onto the street, where it flew towards Devon.

She was able to hear it coming from a mile away, and Devon was ready, leaping into the air to avoid the logs, and this time escaping injuries altogether (albeit she felt pain in her leg and foot when she jumped off).

"She's in the air," Ralston said to Robin and Nami. "Do it now!"

Before Devon could land, the ground beneath her seemed to sink, and what burst through it was a massive fist that appeared to be made completely of arms. Not being able to dodge in midair, Devon took the full force of the hit, and it sent her flying back and crashing into a house, where it collapsed in on itself and landed on top of her.

Both Robin and Nami were able to take advantage of the underground tunnels and position themselves to where they predicted Devon was going (based on Ralston's surveillance, of course). They quickly hopped out of the ground and onto solid earth again, and looked at each other with joy.

"No time to celebrate now," Robin reminded Nami. "Set it up now."

Nami nodded as she collected several Cool Balls on her Clima-Tact, as she threw it into the air and said, "Cloudy Tempo!"

Almost immediately, dark clouds appeared in the night air, and not wasting a second, Nami prepared her Clima-Tact again saying, "Rain Tempo!"

With that, rain began to fall from the clouds, and soon enough, the entire courtyard was getting drenched in rain. Catarina Devon walked slowly out of the destroyed house, her clothes were

_(were covered with blood)_

covered in dirt and soot, as rage appeared on her face, the rain senselessly battering her, but she didn't care. She would make these women pay for their offenses to her, and shake up the monotony of their lives, and she would start with Nami.

"Here she comes!" Robin said to Nami, preparing herself.

"I need a bit more time!" Nami said.

Devon wouldn't provide them with any more time, however, as she was nearly in front of both Robin and Nami before she threw her net towards Nami, intent on capturing her and her strange staff.

"Cien Fleur, Spider Net!"

Robin sprouted one-hundred arms and interlocked them together to create a spiders net, which she put in front of Devon's iron net, both hitting each other and landing on the ground with a dull thud.

Devon immediately turned to Robin, yelling, "_YOU_—"

"Ochenta Fleur, Shock!"

Robin sprouted two pairs of large arms made up of her eighty arms that sprouted on Devon's shoulders. Before Devon could finish her sentence, Robin interlocked the hands and brought them crashing down on Devon's head, causing colors to explode in her eyes and sending her staggering back.

Robin hopped back and yelled, "Do it now Nami! Finish it!"

Nami nodded as she yelled, "Dark Cloud Tempo!"

A large dark cloud appeared over both her and Devon, as lightning crackled from it, and a bolt of it flew directly into her Clima-Tact, electrically charging it. The recovering Devon only saw this, but didn't have time to react as Nami sprinted towards her.

"Thunder Lance Tempo!" she yelled.

Nami moved the Clima-Tact close to Devon's body, and the lightning bolt immediately shot out like a lance, sending a massive electric shock running through her body, and since she was drenched in rain from earlier, it made the attack doubly effective.

_"HOW DARE YOU!" _Devon shouted as she was being shocked.

_("things are so boring when they're monotonous and continuous")_

She staggered forward, the lightning still coursing through her body, before she finally dropped her spear, and

_("I just like to shake things up a bit")_

dropped to the floor, out like a burnt-out light.

Both Nami and Robin stood silent for a second, not quite sure of what just happened. Then, the den-den mushi Robin had went off, and she turned it on, revealing Ralston's voice:

"What happened? We can't see anything through the rain! Did you get her?"

"Yeah, we got her," stated Robin. "Now come and get some men to capture her, and make sure she doesn't escape when she wakes up; she's a strong one."

"Roger that."

Robin hung up the den-den mushi as both she and Nami looked at the unconscious Devon.

_("sure, I _felt_ those attacks, but they weren't, you know, _powerful_")_

"Betcha felt that one, eh?" Nami asked the unconscious form with a grin.

Robin nodded and decided to add her two cents in as well.

"Better luck next time…Catarina Devon."

* * *

Knocked back to shame...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	56. Straw Hat and Red Hair

Marines wondering what's going on...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**56: Straw Hat and Red-Hair**

With a full battalion of soldiers at his back, Commodore Smoker, Captain Hina, and Ensign Tashigi rushed them through the bridge connecting one isle to another, hoping to get to the bottom of all of this mayhem.

"To think Sylar City would get up in such a frenzy over the gunshots," Smoker gritted through his teeth. "It would seem like some rebels are trying to stage a coup, yet we haven't seen one enter the city and go for the government building."

"Then that means they're going for someone else," Hina pointed out. "My guess would be Kaido, since it's clear the government isn't planning on doing anything about him."

Smoker quickly turned to Garp, who was also running with them. "You know something about this we all don't, don't you?" he asked with a grimace.

Garp simply smiled and said, "So far, you're making pretty accurate assumptions, but there is one key aspect you're leaving out."

"What's that?"

"Well those two fellas we saw the swordsman fight at the bar," he replied, "they work for Victor and that means he's on this island, but isn't it strange that we haven't seen him at all?"

"You mean he could be working with Kaido?" enquired Tashigi.

Garp nodded.

"If that's the case, then it only implicates him more in creating the Shichibukai rebellion," Hina stated.

Smoker, however, seemed to respond angrily as he stopped dead in his tracks with everyone immediately stopping. He gripped Garp by his collar and asked gruffly, "Why the hell didn't you tell any of us about this before? I bet you even knew about this whole rebellion going on didn't you?"

Garp knocked his hand away and calmly stated, "Even if I did tell you, what could you have done differently?"

"We could have—" he started.

"Could have what?" Garp cut off. "Would have gone against Kaido or Victor head-to-head and arrested them? That's a laugh. Kaido has the power to kill even a Logia, and Victor…well let's just say he's no pushover either."

Smoker stared at him intently, yet said nothing.

"At some point you have to accept some things that are beyond your control," continued Garp. "Instead of trying to break up the rebellion like I know you would have if I told you, you wouldn't even consider the possibility of trying to _aid_ them to help them win."

"The World Government clearly states that rebellions are to be crushed before they can rebel if possible," Smoker sternly stated.

Garp laughed. "Since when were you one to care about what the World Government said?"

"The rebellion will throw the Vespian Isles into turmoil!" roared Smoker.

_"The Vespian Isles will be thrown into even further turmoil if Kaido or Victor remain on this island!"_ Garp roared back.

Hina stepped forward and said to Smoker, "Garp's right. The rebels are fighting to rid the land of Kaido, which I see as a noble endeavor. So now we have two options. We can either go around arresting every rebel we see, which would no doubt cut it short, or we can follow our own sense of justice and _help_ them."

Smoker took in her words without interruption.

Hina threw out her finished cigarette and said, "It's your call; you're the commanding officer here and we're required to follow you—save for Garp here—so we'll do whatever you order. So what's it gonna be Commodore?"

Smoker remained silent for a few seconds, and then he finally opened his mouth to speak. "I—"

He was immediately cut off as a cannonball flew past them and hit a neighboring tree, causing a large explosion sending several men flying to the ground.

"What the hell?" asked Garp, looking in the direction of the blast.

Suddenly, a distinctly southern voice rang out, speaking to them all. "And this is what I get for just chasing after Kaido without really knowin' where I was goin'…"

From out of the brush came William Helmont, his right arm transformed into a cannon and a smile present on his face.

"The Gunslinger!" Smoker immediately said.

William didn't pay attention to him as he looked around and saw all of the marines. He tipped up his hat and scratched his head saying casually, "Man, to think that such strong marines are here too? I bet Victor wasn't countin' on this development. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to rectify this little mistake myself."

Immediately, Smoker sprang into action, taking out his jutte and swinging it at William, who casually used his arm to block it and carefully avoiding the seastone tip. Smoker looked back at the rest of the marines and more specifically at Garp.

"Garp!" he shouted. "Can you take the marines and get them to the Hydrox Isle where Kaido is?"

"Well sure I can," Garp smiled, "but are you sure you want a resigned marine like me to lead?"

"I trust you to follow your own sense of justice," Smoker shot back. "Oh, and when you do finally get there, arrest every Plague Pirate you see…as well as any of Victor's men."

"Will do," Garp said as he took the entire battalion of men and ran past both Smoker and William, leaving only Hina and Tashigi left; William only watched with a smile.

Smoker looked at William and stated, "You let them go didn't you?"

William kept his grin as he turned his free hand into a cannon and shot Smoker right in his stomach, turning him into smoke and dissipating him; Smoker leapt back to Hina and Tashigi.

"Why wouldn't I?" asked William. "All of those marines are small-fry except for old Garp there, and even with him leading, your little marine friends don't stand a chance."

"Pretty cocky aren't you?" asked Hina as she lit a new cigarette. "You spoke in a way just now to make it seem as if you can beat _us_."

"Why of course I can," he quickly shot back with his same smile. "With you gone, there will be one less headache for all of us."

Smoker readied himself, gripping his jutte. "Then make your move."

William pointed his index finger towards the group in the shape of a pistol, when suddenly his index finger got transformed into a gun barrel. Smiling, he fired off a quick shot, scattering the entire group who tried to avoid it.

— — —

"Don't you realize that it's useless to try and fight me by now?" Kaido berated to the panting Luffy. "You'll never defeat a Yonko such as myself."

Luffy was kneeling on the ground, pain coursing through his entire body. He suddenly sneezed several times and coughed up a large amount. He looked at his covered hand and saw that there was blood on it.

"I don't give up easily…" he wheezed.

Kaido pointed at Luffy and bragged, "I've already infected you with an innumerable amount of bacteria, which has led to your current state."

Luffy gave a roar and threw a stretched fist towards Kaido, who simply dodged to avoid it, letting Luffy's fist hit a tree. Kaido quickly moved and was immediately on Luffy. Using his superior size, Kaido smashed Luffy across the stomach and sent him flying to the ground on his back, panting and staring up at the night sky.

"You're probably asking yourself: When did he infect me?" continued the antagonistic Kaido. "Well you see Straw Hat, that's the joy of biological warfare. Truth is, that you _never_ know when you get infected with something, and thanks to the power of my devil fruit, I am a walking biological weapon."

Luffy sneezed again and saw that he coughed up a large amount of phlegm. He idly wiped it off on his shirt as he shakily stood up, letting out another raucous cough.

"What you have now is the Break-Down Bug, a virus that is meant to slow you down by messing with your insides and weakening you physically, but isn't meant to kill you. No Straw Hat, I need you alive so you can tell me where Mr. Carrison is."

Luffy's legs buckled as he coughed violently for a few seconds. Regardless, he threw both of his arms back and yelled, "Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

Kaido deftly dodged the attack and was able to grab one of Luffy's outstretched arms. Not wasting any time, he yanked him forward and was able to bash Luffy in the chest again, sending him flying into a tree.

"You see Straw Hat, Victor told me that you were on this island, and I had a hunch you would somehow get in contact with Ridge; you being by his house is proof enough of that," continued Kaido, as Luffy buried both hands in the ground to try and get up in vain.

Kaido laughed at his predicament.

"Now I know the type of person Ridge is, and if he let a stranger help him with his masterpiece of a rebellion, then surely he must have told you where he was going. So all I need from you is even just an _inkling_ of where Ridge might have gone, so I can end this entire thing before it gets out of hand."

_("well, due to the…nature of how Kaido presents himself with his mass murder and pillaging and plundering and whatnot, and the fact that the Vespian government has no spine whatsoever, the people have to decided to take it on themselves to rid themselves of this plague")_

"I'd die before I told you anything!" Luffy stated. Then, he punched the ground as the blood flowed into his body. "Gear Second!"

Despite his weakening body, Luffy sprinted towards Kaido, appearing in front of him almost instantly. Kaido was shocked at such a power boost despite his state, but was prepared nonetheless. In his mouth, he gather a large amount of spit to prepare for an attack.

"Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!"

"Muck-Up Mucus!" Kaido said, right before getting punched straight in his stomach.

He clearly felt the blow, yet his attack carried through anyway, and his large amount of saliva spattered Luffy, sending him flying back several feet.

Kaido fell to his knees, as it didn't take long for his attack to reach Luffy. Almost immediately, Luffy let out a massive roar of pain and his knees buckled and finally gave way under him, letting him collapse to the floor with a thud.

"Didn't expect such an impact," Kaido said, standing up again. "Regardless, you've been infected with Lord knows how much bacteria. This won't kill you that quickly though, but it's enough to finish you off in two days or so, and all the while you'll be in an unspeakable agony."

He walked closer to the fallen Luffy, who had now fallen unconscious.

"However," he said, raising his massive foot up and angling it over Luffy's skull, "I won't allow you to live for two more days. Your resolve to not tell me is clear, and you'll just be a pain later, so you should just die now."

Right before he could bring his foot down on the unconscious Luffy's skull, utterly crushing it, he felt a strange force stop him, and before he knew it, two figures appeared and went into action. One quickly grabbed Luffy and moved him away from his certain death, and the other pulled out a sword and cut the surprised Kaido across the chest before landing behind him with the other figure.

Blood spurted out of Kaido's wound lightly, and it was by no means a deathblow, but regardless, he couldn't help but feel slightly angered. "It's been a while since I've felt Haki like that," he said coldly.

He turned around to see both Dark King Silvers Rayleigh and Red-Haired Shanks standing there. Rayleigh laid the unconscious Luffy down, as Shanks looked at Kaido with an air of seriousness.

"So it is you, eh, Red-Hair?" said Kaido humorlessly. "I thought you learned your lesson last time when you confronted me."

"Except that time," Shanks corrected, "we didn't fight. As I recall, you said you'd pull out and not attack Whitebeard. Yet I never thought you'd come over here and bring terror, and even team up with Victor no less."

"It's…none of your business," Kaido simply said.

"But it is," Rayleigh interjected. "What the hell do you think you're doing, trying to raise Poseidon? Surely you know that it will only bring destruction to the world."

"I'm showing a little initiative!" Kaido shot back angrily. "Something you two spineless cowards clearly lack! With the power of Poseidon, I'll kill Victor and take One Piece for myself, where I'll rule as the King of the Pirates."

Apparently, Shanks ignored him as he kneeled down by the unconscious Luffy. "It looks like Kaido hit him with the Break-Down Bug and the Muck-Up Mucus," he said to Rayleigh, who nodded.

"So you've even memorized my attacks, have you, you coward?"

Shanks continued to ignore him as he ordered to Rayleigh, "Take him somewhere far away and give him the medicine. Then, once that is done, tell him what he needs to do and come back here to help me."

"And what shall I tell him about you?" inquired Rayleigh.

Shanks was quiet for a second before saying, "He doesn't need to know I'm here; that would just worry him needlessly. Besides, if I met him before he fulfilled his dream, he and I would both feel cheap."

Rayleigh nodded and said, "I'll be back as fast as I can."

"Good," replied Shanks, taking out his sword. "Because it'll be difficult for me to take him alone."

"Then good luck old friend," Rayleigh said, before taking off towards the woods with Luffy in his arms.

"Wait!" Kaido shouted. "I won't let you take off with prey I've marked!"

He moved towards Rayleigh as if to chase after him, but Shanks appeared between both of them with his sword ready. Using another burst of Haki, he was able to freeze Kaido and leap past him with his sword ready, causing a cut on his arm. He landed behind him and quickly turned back to face his fellow Yonko.

Kaido turned towards Shanks with anger clearly in his eyes. "Fine then, if it's a real fight you want, then it's a real fight you'll get. And don't think it'll end in just words this time, Red-Hair."

"Sounds good," Shanks coolly replied. "I was just thinking the same thing.

The two juggernauts stared at each other for a second, before both moving towards each other at the same time. One had the intent to kill in his mind, while the other had the intent to simply stop.

* * *

Saved by old friends!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	57. Of Strikes and Landmines

Once again, they fight together...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**57: Of Strikes and Landmines**

Corrupt King Abalo Pizarro moved first. Turning his right arm into a spinning drill, he lunged towards Sanji, who was able to side-step it and land a quick kick to Pizarro's side, causing him to grunt and leap back to avoid any further attacks.

Sanji spat out his cigarette and smirked at Pizarro. "Hmph, it'll take much more than such rudimentary tactics to finish us. Isn't that right Hancock?"

He turned around to see Boa Hancock running away from both of them, causing great shock in Sanji. He quickly sprinted towards her and with a mighty leap, landed right in front of her, holding his arms out in an attempt to stop her.

"I thought I could just slip away when he attacked you just then," Hancock said to what seemed like herself. "I guess I wasn't subtle enough."

Sanji wouldn't take any of that, however. "What the hell was that about? I need your help to take on this guy, and you start taking off on me!"

"Hmph," Hancock grunted, looking down on Sanji so much she was looking up. "I care not for you or that old man. I was carried here against my will and now that I'm free, I intend to go see Luffy."

"That's bullshit!" Sanji started. "You can't just leave in the middle of a fight; we have a duty to—"

Hancock put her hand up to her face in the cutest way she knew and said very softly, "I wish you would just let me pass; it would make me so happy."

Sanji fell for it like a charm as his eyes turned to hearts and gushed, "Whatever you wish my lady, let me just—"

He couldn't get any farther as Pizarro hopped out of the ground with both his arms turned into drills, ready to kill both of them. Luckily, both Sanji and Hancock were skillful enough to react and avoid his attack, both getting away with only light scratches.

"It would appear," Sanji scowled to Hancock, "that he's not too intent on letting _either_ of us go."

"I agree."

"So it seems like…" Sanji started, looking at Hancock.

"…We're going to have to…" she continued, looking at Sanji.

Both immediately rushed at the still Pizarro, both yelling: "Get rid of you first!"

"Nya nya," Pizarro laughed, taunting the two. "I've been killing people since before you two were born!"

"Collier Coup!"

"Perfume Femur!"

Before either of their attacks could hit, Pizarro disappeared on the spot. Both attackers stopped and looked to see a hole in the ground where he was once standing. "Hiding again," Hancock grimaced. "What a coward."

Pizarro suddenly appeared behind Hancock with his drills ready, saying, "Who's a coward?"

Before he could strike the unprepared Hancock, Sanji leapt into action and kicked Pizarro right in his face, sending him flying through the air before he landed on his feet. He wiped his mouth to see that there was blood, before chuckling at Sanji.

"Not bad, kid."

Sanji wouldn't hear it, however, as he immediately rushed at Pizarro ready to attack. When he was close enough, he threw a series of attacks at him.

"Poitrine Treader, Gigot Charlie-le-horse, Flanchet Shot, Mouton Mallet!"

Sanji finished off his combo quite angrily, as he saw that Abalo Pizarro easily dodged and blocked all of the attack. He slid back quietly and asked, "You done?"

Angered, Sanji leapt forward and raised his leg, getting ready to deliver a hard kick to Pizarro's cheek. "Jou Baste!"

Pizarro smirked as he ducked his head right before the attack landed. Still smirking at the defenseless Sanji, he raised one of his spinning drills and thrust it towards his opponent. Sanji barely had the time to leap away, but the drill still glanced his stomach, cutting it up and causing him to roar in pain before spitting out some blood.

He landed and fell to his knees, gripping his bleeding stomach. Pizarro wasn't going to wait, however, as he rushed towards Sanji, cocking his drill back. "It was nice knowin' ya kid!"

Before he could hit the unmoving Sanji, Boa Hancock came in and landed a kick to the side of Pizarro's head, sending him flying sideways far away from Sanji. The surprised chef looked at her and said, "I thought you wanted to leave."

"Fool," Hancock scoffed. "I was only going to leave because I thought you could handle yourself here, but that's clearly not the case. I don't want you to get killed, because then Luffy would get quite upset, and the last thing I want is that."

Sanji grinned as he stood up and regained his balance. "Sounds good to me! So let's say we team up again to try and finish this guy off."

"Except this guy is no Farraday," Hancock said, remembering their fight with him. "He's much more deadly. Be warned, if you get hit by that drill dead-on, you're dead for sure."

"Yeah, I noticed," Sanji said, looking at his dripping stomach.

Pizarro didn't seem to mind the interference, as he was quickly back on his feet with the same smirk on his face. "I'm waiting youngsters. I thought you were gonna do something, but it looks like talking's all your good for!"

Sanji lit a new cigarette for himself and stared at Pizarro. "Let's go!"

Hancock nodded as they both sprinted towards their opponent.

"Oho, finally," Pizarro said, knocking his drill-arms together. "And here I thought I would be the one doing the attacking."

Sanji moved first, as he threw his leg out saying, "Tendon Tenderizer!"

Pizarro easily side-stepped the attack and scoffed, "That's it? Didn't you learn your lesson last—"

"Épaule Sprawl!" Sanji cut off.

Using his free leg, Sanji sent it smashing down on Pizarro's right shoulder, forcing him to the ground almost immediately. Sanji didn't let up as he hooked his leg to Pizarro's exposed neck and brought his head smashing down hard into the ground.

"Reception!"

Surprisingly, Pizarro looked up almost immediately, a smile on his face as he looked almost uninjured. This surprised Sanji immensely, as Pizarro shot a drill straight towards his chest. Hancock moved in at that point and brought a smashing kick on to the back of his head, sending him jolting forward. Taking advantage of this, Sanji leapt back and kicked him in the side of his head, sending him sprawling sideways.

Both immediately leapt away, knowing how dangerous Pizarro could be.

Sanji took a puff on his cigarette and stated, "Something's not right about him."

As if to complement that statement, Pizarro leapt to his feet and looked up. A little blood flowing down the side of his head and from his mouth, but nothing else. "Not bad kiddies," he taunted. "Almost made those last attacks sting."

"Impossible," Sanji said. "All of our attacks landed hard on him, yet he bats it away as if a fly landed on him."

"That's because he ate the Drill-Drill Fruit," grimaced Hancock. "It's more than likely it has a passive effect that makes his body made out of the same kind of materials drills are made of, making his skin harder than an average humans."

Pizarro was already sprinting towards the group with his drills ready. "Bingo!" he stated happily. "You're right on the money there Hancock!"

Right before he was in striking range, he leapt up and looked at both Hancock and Sanji, aiming a drill apiece at them. "Now you're finished!"

While he was coming down from the air to strike both of them from overhead, Sanji muttered to himself, "It's not nice to attack a lady like that…"

Seconds before Pizarro could get within striking distance of the two, Sanji shot his leg up in a powerful movement, hitting Pizarro right in his stomach, winding him and sending him flying into the air.

"Bad Manners Kick Course!" he said, dropping his cigarette from out of his mouth.

Not giving Pizarro any time to recover, Sanji leapt into the air and appeared over his adversary. He aimed one leg right towards Pizarro's back and began to spin around. Finally, he brought his kick down on Pizarro with smashing force, spinning like a drill while doing it.

"Brochette Blow!"

Pizarro grunted and spat out blood as he barreled towards the floor from the attack. Sanji, still in the air, yelled to Hancock, "Hit him now!"

She nodded as she leapt towards where he was falling, and right before he could hit the ground, she did a handstand and launched her leg right towards Pizarro's chest, sending him flying to the ground. While he was staggering to get up, Sanji and Hancock both rushed at him on opposite sides of each other, having the intent to finish him off once and for all.

Right before they could the standing-up Pizarro, however, he counterattacked by sprouting a large amount of spinning drills everywhere on his body as defensive measure. Both Hancock and Sanji saw this, and began to pull away, but it was too late, as Sanji's right leg got skimmed and Hancock's left foot got a massive gash within it.

Both fighters immediately leapt back, as Pizarro removed the drills from his body (save for his arms) and stood there panting. Blood was flowing down his face now, and it looked as if anger appeared on it for the first time as well. He looked up at both Hancock and Sanji and glared daggers at both of them.

"How dare you make a fool out of the Corrupt King in such a way!" he shouted. "You will pay for this dearly, I assure you!"

With that, he leapt and dove towards the ground, using the powers of his drills to burrow underground, where he stayed there for quite some time.

"He's playing mole again," Hancock said humorlessly.

"The fact that he's shaken up is a good thing," Sanji replied. "It means that even with his thick skin, we're able to wound him badly."

"Hmph, it was the power of _my_ kicks anyway that were able to wound him," scoffed Hancock.

Sanji smiled. "Sure, whatever you s—"

He was cut off as suddenly two explosions appeared to both of their sides. It wasn't close enough to wound them, but it still gave both of them a start. "What the…" Sanji started.

"Underground bombs?" inquired Hancock. "Landmines, as it would seem."

From underground, they heard a cackling voice. "That's right Hancock! My own invention putting a large amount of gunpowder in a very brittle clay pot with an igniter on the inside of it! They're so volatile that even if you step on the earth above them, the shift will crack the pot and cause it to explode right underneath you, taking off a leg in the process!"

"Crafty bastard!" Sanji said. "He's probably littered the ground with them."

Another explosion took place behind them, causing them both to look back. "Of course I can always set them off myself," Pizarro continued from underneath. "This is the battle strategy that made me feared across the lands: Landmine Mayhem!"

Sanji smiled as he lit himself another cigarette. "Well what now Hancock? A wrong move and we're finished."

"Don't forget that we still have to fight Pizarro as well," she reminded. "This is looking to be unnecessarily troublesome."

As if to agree with what Hancock said, Pizarro leapt from the earth with both his drills ready, preparing to strike both of them. They immediately leapt up to avoid it, as Pizarro stood there with a grin wide on his bloodied face.

"You leap in the air because you don't want to land on the ground, correct? Too bad I already know where I planted all of the mines and won't step on them myself! Nya nya nya nya nya!"

"Hey Hancock, lend me your strength for a sec," Sanji said to his companion in the air right next to him.

"Again?" she questioned. "You're too dependant on me."

"Last time," Sanji grinned. "I promise."

Hancock sighed as she cocked her leg back and Sanji prepared himself as well. Throwing a full-forced kick, Sanji latched onto her leg and that sent him flying straight towards the still-laughing Pizarro. Sanji used the rapid air friction to heat up right leg to make it appear as if he was on fire. "Diable Jambe!" he said.

Pizarro stopped laughing and saw the speeding Sanji rushing towards him. Too late could he make a move, as Sanji was already on him. Sanji threw a massive kick to the side of his head and sent him flying to the ground several feet away.

Sanji landed right where Pizarro stood and saw him land to the ground unharmed. "No explosions!" he called up to Hancock, who was still in the air. "It's okay to attack him there!"

She nodded as she too sped down towards the ground and pointed her leg out at the fallen Pizarro. He looked up to see her speeding down, but, like with Sanji, he was too late to act, as she brought her foot smashing down on his chest with a massive amount of force, causing him to split up a large amount of blood despite his unique body.

Hancock stood there for a second, before Pizarro was ready to move again, and thrust one of his drills up towards her. She quickly leapt in the air, and Pizarro moved for the ground again, retreating to its safety.

Hancock landed right next to where Pizarro once stood, and breathed a sigh of relief that the ground didn't explode underneath her. "Stay where you are!" Sanji called. "We don't know what part of the ground is safe or not!"

Hancock nodded as once again they heard Pizarro cackle beneath them. "It won't do you any good now! I'll just set off all of the landmines at once, and the shock will be enough to kill you anyways!"

"Shit!" Sanji said. "Hancock, take cover!"

Too late as suddenly, both of them were surrounded by explosions causing the entire earth beneath them to shake. The recoil and power of the explosions sent both fighters sprawling, and when the explosions passed, both were severely disoriented.

This was what Pizarro was hoping for, as he took this time to leap from the ground high in the air right by Hancock and aimed both of his drills at her chest. "Time to die youngster!" he laughed in a half-crazy tone.

Sanji was barely up as he shook his head in shock and saw Pizarro going straight for Hancock. Realizing the danger, he threw all caution to the wind and sprinted towards Pizarro, heating up his leg again. Pizarro looked just too late to see Sanji spinning rapidly and having his leg fly towards him, right before he hit Hancock.

"Diable Jambe!" he shouted, connecting the kick straight to Pizarro's face.

He let out a massive grunt of pain as he shot back almost immediately, only nicking Hancock's shoulder. At this point, rage had overtaken Sanji as he ran after the still-flying and disoriented Pizarro. He leapt in the air and when he was directly over Pizarro, he brought both of his legs down straight to his chest, sending him crashing to the floor with blood flying.

"Premier Haché!"

Almost immediately after they both hit the ground, Sanji leapt up again and threw a massive flurry of kicks to Pizarro, yelling, "Extra Haché!"

All of them struck, and it seemed like Pizarro didn't even have the strength to defend himself anymore. Finally, he leapt into the air once more and went spinning down towards Pizarro. "Mouton Shot!"

Pizarro's eyes turned to whites as he spat out a massive amount of blood, painting his beard red. Sanji landed a few feet away and stared at him, breathing heavily with blood spurting everywhere from his body. Hancock was up at this point and slowly walked over to Sanji, sensing his intensity.

"Sanji…" she started.

He turned towards her and smiled broadly. "Well I'm glad that's over."

Hancock couldn't help but smile at this as Sanji lit himself a new cigarette. "I am as well…"

Pizarro wasn't done yet, however.

In a last-ditch effort to win, he rose in a semiconscious form when Sanji had his back turned to him. He cocked his spinning drill-arm back and let out a massive roar, preparing to plunge it into his back.

"Look out!" Hancock said, quickly throwing a kick to the side of Sanji's head which sent him sprawling to the floor.

Pizarro's drill hit air as he was now completely defenseless as Hancock did a handstand and threw a massive kick to his face, sending him flying back to the floor again, where this time he stayed.

Sanji grunted as he shakily stood up, cracking his neck. "The hell was with that?"

"Sorry," she said. "I couldn't think of a better way to get you to move."

"Well thanks, I guess…" he said, picking up his fallen cigarette, dusting it off, and putting it back in his mouth.

Both he and Hancock looked at the now fully unconscious Pizarro as Sanji said, "Such a shame…we lost such a great digger."

Hancock couldn't help but chuckle at this, before she realized what she was doing and turned towards Sanji, suddenly saying, "I'm going to go look for Luffy now, and I don't care if you follow me or not!"

She then sprinting away from both men, leaving Sanji to recoil in shock and yell, "Hey, don't forget about me! I saved your ass back there and you're ready to just run away; that's not very nice!"

"Sorry, that's just in my nature," Hancock said cutely while still running, turning back to Sanji. "I don't mean too…"

"You're completely forgiven!" gushed Sanji, as he continued to run after her.

With that, both fighters were but a speck now, leaving the Corrupt King lying there in his unconscious form, where he dreamed of his glory days back when he was a king and did whatever he wanted. He savored those memories, as he at that point realized that he could never achieve them again.

* * *

Exits the Corrupt King...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	58. The Rain and the Steel

Pirate Hunter Zoro vs. Shiryu of the Rain! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**58: The Rain and the Steel**

"Sorry to put you through this again, old friend," Shiryu of the Rain said to his nodachi, holding it up to his face as if to marvel it. "I know it's a bother to you, but I promise to finish him off as fast as possible."

Zoro raised an eyebrow at this behavior. They had not struck blades two seconds ago before backing off again, and this man was already talking to his sword?

"So you enjoy talking to your sword then?" Zoro chanced.

Shiryu took a puff on his cigar before answering. "You see this as strange?"

Zoro smirked. "Not at all; only the most advanced swordsmen do it. All you did was solidify in my mind that you're skilled with a blade."

Shiryu chomped a bit on his cigar before saying, "I see…well then, let's get right to it, shall we? Don't want to waste that much time."

"Sounds good to me!"

Both men rushed at each other, as Zoro prepared his swords. "Oni Giri!"

Shiryu's eyes opened slightly wider at this as he quickly reacted, bringing his nodachi straight up to stop the attack dead in its tracks. Zoro held his position, trying to get his blades through, before he looked up at the cold expression of Shiryu.

"Not bad to be able to stop my Oni Giri so easily!" he strained, trying to push him back, but he soon saw that he wouldn't budge.

"Thanks," Shiryu said.

Then suddenly, he brought his head smashing down onto Zoro's in a quick head-butt, causing him to back up in recoil while letting out a small grunt. Shiryu smiled behind his cigar and brought his sword up to strike.

"Why you!" he grimaced, readying his three swords again. "Streaming Wolf—"

"Gaol Style: Crackdown!"

Before Zoro could hit, Shiryu quickly sheathed his sword and in an instant, was behind Zoro, his blade still sheathed. Zoro stood there for a second, before blood sprayed from his right shoulder, causing him to wince and grip it. He quickly turned around to see a speck of blood on Shiryu's cheek as he gazed at Zoro and smiled.

Zoro matched that smile as the blood stopped spraying out and settled down. "You're pretty fast there," he said from behind Wado Ichimonji. "I guess I wasn't wrong when I said you're skilled with a blade."

Shiryu simply wiped Zoro's blood off of his cheek and stared at it. "Ah, how I love that scent." He looked at his nodachi. "Don't you agree?"

"Enough of your talk!" Zoro said, rushing at him again.

This time, he didn't go with any named techniques; he simply swung his blade around with deadly precision in an attempt to scout out Shiryu's real talent. He exceeded Zoro's expectations, however, when he saw that Shiryu was easily able to parry all of his blows from his three swords with simply his nodachi.

Shiryu tried his hand at attacking, but Zoro feigned him out and was able to drop to the ground, dodging his strike. He smiled as he saw that Shiryu was open and raised his swords. "Bull Needles!"

Shiryu saw that he was open and wouldn't be able to parry, so he thought fast, saying, "Gaol Style: Escapee!"

With that, he leapt high in the air to avoid Zoro's strikes altogether. Zoro looked up to see Shiryu raise his sword high in the air. He glared down at Zoro and smiled. "Gaol Style: Jailer's Thunder!"

He barreled towards Zoro with his sword pointed down, ready to strike him head on. Zoro barely had time to get out of the way before his sword hit the ground, utterly smashing it where it landed and uplifting many trees that were surrounding them. Zoro himself buckled as the ground underneath him began to rise and fall.

"Damn!" he said in a surprised tone. "Watch what you're doing, or you'll destroy the entire environment!"

Shiryu already had his nodachi out of the ground, however, and poised it for a new attack. "Gaol Style: Crackdown!"

Zoro attempted to raise his sword up in defense, but he saw that it was too late, as before he could parry the blow, Shiryu was already behind him, his sword sheathed. Zoro paused for a second before a massive gash on his chest opened up, and sent blood spraying out of him. He grunted in pain and fell to his knees.

Shiryu smirked as he turned towards the injured Zoro. "They gave me a nickname back at Impel Down," he said. "There, they called me Head Jailer Shiryu of the Rain. I got the 'of the Rain' part because I always enjoyed carving up the prisoners and seeing their blood. My fast techniques always opened up wounds and sent blood spraying out of a prisoner's body, creating the simulation that it was almost raining with blood."

Zoro gripped his chest and smiled. "That's fine, but you shouldn't be talking about your past in the middle of a fight! You might get hurt, you know."

"I don't worry about that," Shiryu responded humorlessly. "I'm much faster than you anyways."

Zoro seemed to take this personally as he stated, "Oh really now? Well we'll just have to see about that! Raven Hunt!"

Zoro leapt towards Shiryu almost immediately, and when he was close enough, he performed multiple slashing techniques in the air. Shiryu looked unprepared for this, but he was able to block most of the strikes, only getting away with a small slash that appeared on his right thigh.

Shiryu shifted his position and sheathed his nodachi almost immediately. Then, right before Zoro was about to hit the ground, he said, "Gaol Style: Crackdown!"

Zoro immediately raised his three swords up, and as Shiryu sped past him, he was able to parry the blow, but the force still forced him to hit the ground. Reacting quickly, Zoro rolled back onto his feet before charging at Shiryu again. "Oni Giri!"

Shiryu barely had time to block the attack, but he did. Zoro didn't give up there, however, as he quickly leapt back and continued his attacks. He positioned his swords so they looked right at the sentient Shiryu before rushing at him.

"Bull Demon Courageous Talons!"

"Gaol Style: Escapee!"

Shiryu quickly dodged out of the way from the fast attack, as Zoro was left to hit a tree and utterly demolish it, sending it falling to hit another on right next to it. Zoro looked up and saw that he wasn't there, so he looked to the side to see Shiryu speeding towards him again.

He looked to thrust one sword at Zoro, and he prepared accordingly. At the last second, however, he threw his sword behind his back and immediately switched it to his other hand. "Gaol Style: Hell's Wheel!"

He thrust the sword now in his left hand at Zoro's unprotected right shoulder, causing it to go straight through it. Zoro let rip a massive roar of pain, but despite this, he looked at Shiryu with determination in his eyes, positioning his swords yet again, this time towards Shiryu's head.

"Crab Grab!"

He moved his two swords as if to decapitate Shiryu, but he quickly yanked his nodachi out of Zoro's shoulder (giving him another grunt of pain) and ducked just in time, having Zoro's swords hit off his jailer's hat and ripping it to utter shreds, revealing Shiryu's short dusty-blonde hair.

Shiryu sensed the man's danger and leapt back; Zoro did the same. Both stared at each other for a few seconds, panting heavily, but saying nothing. Zoro gripped his pierced shoulder in a vain attempt to stop the blood.

Shiryu's cigar still remained in his mouth as the smoke drifted upward in its same tedious motion. "You know," he said, "no matter how many times I do it, it always seems like the sight of fresh blood is new to me."

"Well you're messed up in the head then," Zoro retorted with a smirk behind Wado Ichimonji. "I think you should seek some help."

Shiryu paid no mind to this as he looked up at his nodachi. "What's that?" he inquired to the sword. "You want to taste more? Don't worry, you'll quench your thirst soon enough, after this man is dead, anyways."

Zoro shivered slightly at this, but Shiryu looked at Zoro with eyes that looked like they weren't all there. It looked as if something had triggered something internally for Shiryu, and he looked consumed by it…

_"Shiryu, eh? You got any last name?"_

— — —

_"No sir!" Shiryu quickly responded to the man at the head office. "No last name to speak of, sir!"_

_The man smoked on his cigarette for a second before saying, "And why is that?"_

_"Well you see, sir," Shiryu responded, "my family died when I was only a toddler, so I've had to live on my own for the longest time. I only kept the vague memory that they called me Shiryu, but I have no idea what my last name is. I apologize for the inconvenience, but that is the truth sir!"_

_"Died when you were only a toddler?" repeated the man. "That must have been tough. What did you do to survive?"_

_"Whatever I needed to sir," he responded. "I grew up in a crime-ridden neighborhood and saw many unspeakable things when I was a child and did a few unspeakable acts, but I did it to survive. After witnessing first hand the dangers of crime and pirates, I decided I wanted to dedicate my life to keeping captured men locked up!"_

_The man put out his cigarette and smiled. "Quite a life story you for there. Well, you passed all of our exams and tests with flying colors, so even regardless of your past, your dedication has shined through, and that means a lot here. So, I feel honored to say, welcome to Impel Down, Petty-Guard Shiryu."_

_Shiryu threw a quick salute. "Thank you, sir! I promise not to let you down!"_

_Just then, a man who rivaled the size of Shiryu himself walked in. He had the face that looked like a mandrill, with a thick scruffy black beard. He wore a tan uniform that Shiryu himself was wearing, which was standard of the Impel Down guards. _

_"Ah, Magellan," the man said. "Come in. I'd like you to meet someone. His name is Shiryu, and he's our newest recruit."_

_Magellan eyed him and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Shiryu."_

_"Same, Magellan," replied Shiryu as he gripped his hand._

_"He's a Petty-Guard just like you," the man said happily to Magellan. "And also just like you, he aced all of the exams and tests to become a jailer; you two are the only ones in Impel Down's history to earn such high marks. Thus, the Warden has decided to pair you two as partners and send you down to Level Three where you'll patrol the areas and gain valuable experience."_

_Both of them nodded, as they were dismissed to go and do their duties. While descending to Level Three, Magellan noticed the nodachi hanging at Shiryu's side. "You a swordsman?" he asked._

_Shiryu nodded as he pulled out a celebratory cigar and lit it. "I am. What about you? You prefer the old hand-to-hand?"_

_"I just recently acquired a devil fruit power myself," said Magellan flatly. _

_"Oho, a devil fruit, eh? Pretty nice," Shiryu said, taking a puff on his cigar._

_Magellan coughed at the smoke, as Shiryu asked him what was wrong._

_"Nothing, it's just…" Magellan started, "I hate smoke…"_

— — —

_"What's that?" Shiryu asked his nodachi while patrolling around Level Three: Starvation Hell. "You're thirsty? Well don't worry; I'll take care of that for you."_

_Shiryu went to one of the prisoners cells and fumbled with his keys. "Hey, what the fuck are you doin'?" one of the prisoners skeptically asked. "We didn't do nothing wrong! There's no need to come and get us!"_

_"Shut up," Shiryu said._

_He unlocked the door, and immediately some of the men tried to rush out. Shiryu dispatched them easily, killing them on the spot and sending their blood to paint the floor. The rest cowered in fear as Shiryu walked closer towards them._

_"Don't worry," he said to his sword, "there's more to come!"_

_"What is this?" Shiryu heard a familiar voice say._

_After he killed the remaining prisoners, Shiryu stepped out to see Magellan standing there, panting and looking at the bodies on the floor. "Well hello there Vice-Chief Magellan," he said with a smirk. "No need to overreact here."_

_"What happened, Vice-Chief Shiryu?" he asked impatiently._

_"Some prisoners got loose, and I had no choice," Shiryu said, sheathing his nodachi. "I thought as Vice-Chiefs we had the power to do these kinds of things if necessary."_

_Magellan eyed Shiryu suspiciously before saying, "Watch what you're doing Shiryu. Some of the guards are getting suspicious, including me. We'll find out what's really happening eventually…"_

_Shiryu gave him a quick snide salute before Magellan walked off…_

— — —

_"Ah shit, it's Head Jailer Shiryu of the Rain!" a prisoner on Level Four called. "He's gonna kill us and see our blood spray out like it was a fucking downpour!"_

_Shiryu gripped his head as he had painful flashbacks to his childhood. Then, his sword spoke to him again. He obeyed as he released a jail full of prisoners and summarily executed them on the spot. The bloodlust didn't end there, however, as he kept releasing prisoners and executing them almost immediately._

_It got so bad, that Warden Magellan was called down to see Shiryu standing there, his blood-soaked nodachi dripping above a pile of dead prisoners._

_"What is the meaning of this Head Jailer Shiryu?" he demanded. "These prisoners aren't here to satiate your bloodlust!"_

_Shiryu's cigar drifted lazily up as he looked at Magellan with cold eyes. "What's wrong with cleaning up a little human trash?"_

_Magellan simply stared at him, knowing he couldn't let this behavior continue._

— — —

_"Soon my sword, soon," Shiryu said from inside his Level Six prison cell, reaching his hand out and grabbing nothing. "Soon I'll be with you again, and we can satiate all of the blood we want. Soon…"_

_Warden Magellan with the help of almost everyone on the Impel Down staff was able to subdue Head Jailer Shiryu and stick him into the deepest confines of Level Six. There, he would remain until Magellan carried out the death penalty to Shiryu as he promised._

_For now, he sat in his cell, calling out to his bloodthirsty sword that even when stowed away in some supply room, called out to him._

_"Soon my sword…we'll be together soon…" he whispered._

— — —

"What's this?" Zoro asked to the still Shiryu. "What did I tell you about reminiscing in a battle?"

Shiryu only stood, however, still whispering to himself about memories long past. Zoro decided he had enough as he rushed towards his enemy with his swords at the ready. Off guard or not, Zoro was going to strike Shiryu.

Zoro threw a series of slashes at Shiryu, yelling, "Great Buddha Cut!"

Right then, Shiryu shot back to reality, as he went into defensive mode. "Gaol Style: Lockdown!"

He moved in perfect sync, as he was able to easily parry all of Zoro's blows. Then, he leapt forward and was able to slash Zoro across his left arm, causing a major gash. Shiryu skidded a few feet before coming to a complete half. Finally, his cigar fell out of his mouth as he yelled:

"Enough! My sword wants to taste your blood all at once, and I'm going to grant it that wish! Prepare to fall Roronoa Zoro!"

"About time," he said with a grin. "My rage has slowly been building up during this fight anyway!"

Shiryu sheathed his sword and shifted his position, ready to draw it as soon as possible. "This move is ten times faster and more powerful than Crackdown," he warned. "It is the ultimate technique of the quick-draw swordsman."

"Just shut up and move," Zoro grimaced, readying himself.

They stood for a few seconds, before Shiryu finally moved, yelling, "Gaol Style: Head Jailer's Draw…"

He rushed at Zoro, his hand on the hilt of his still-sheathed nodachi, ready to draw at any second to end Zoro's life. Right when he was about to hit Zoro, however, he sensed a strange aura emanating from him. To his infinite surprise, two more Zoro's appeared to be melded into the original Zoro, creating nine swords in all.

"Nine Sword Style: Asura!" Zoro said to the confused Shiryu, right before he took off to meet him.

"Quick Kill!" Shiryu yelled, drawing his sword at Zoro.

"Asura: Demon Nine Flashes!"

Both attacks struck at the same time, and when it was finished, they both appeared on the opposite ends of each other. Zoro's chest opened up almost immediately, revealing a fountain of blood spraying out. Despite this, he held his ground and looked at Shiryu. He was simply standing there, looking at his sword.

_"Happy now?" _he thought.

Then, an even bigger wound opened up on Shiryu's chest, and an even bigger flurry of blood shot out, spraying the trees and ground and his own nodachi in front of him. He stared at this sight with shock on his face. Despite this, he held his ground for a few seconds and continued to look at his sword.

_"Are you happy now?" _he persisted in his thoughts. _"You've got all the blood you'd ever want. So much blood one would think it was raining it. Just be happy and finally leave me and my haunted past away. Please, be happy…be happy…"_

His sword gave no response, and the shocked Shiryu dropped it from his hand and fell face-first to the floor, giving one final gasp of consciousness.

Zoro dropped to his knees immediately afterward, taking off his black bandana and sheathing his three swords, the other two of him disappearing. "Shit…this guy was no joke…" he said, gripping his aching chest. "Losing too much blood…But I gotta get to Luffy and the others on the Hydrox Isle…where we promised to…meet…"

With that, Zoro's consciousness left him as well, and he collapsed to the floor.

* * *

Victorious, and yet...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	59. A Pause in the Pandemonium

After the demise of Blackbeard's old crew... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**59: A Pause in the Pandemonium**

Monkey D. Luffy's eyes opened to see Silvers Rayleigh's face hovering above him. He reacted almost immediately, scrambled away until his back hit a tree, where he grunted in pain and slumped down there, still feeling the effects of his battle.

"Easy there," Rayleigh said, raising up both his hands in a calming motion. "I was able to give you the proper antidotes, but you still haven't completely recovered from Kaido's attacks."

"Rayleigh…" Luffy said somewhat weakly, backtracking. "Why are you here on this island? I thought you were at Sabaody, waiting for the rest of the crew to show up."

"I was, and they _did_ show up at Sabaody," replied Rayleigh. "I sent them on their way and they should be on this island as we speak."

Luffy then immediately lit up at this news, and said excitedly, "Really? Robin, Chopper, Franky, and Brook are on this island too? How are they? Where are they n—URK!"

Luffy tried to stand up, but a massive pain in his chest stopped him, and this grunt of pain was followed by a series of coughs and sneezes.

"Like I said," repeated Rayleigh, "you haven't recovered from Kaido's biological attacks completely yet, so you need to relax and take it easy."

"Do you know where they are now?" Luffy persisted.

Rayleigh shook his head, and Luffy slumped down a bit. Finally, he asked, "So why are you on this island then?"

"I heard some news

_(Splint took off his bucket hat and produced a note from it and put it back on. Rayleigh took the note and opened it up, reading intently)_

that Victor was on this island, and what's more, he plans on reviving the Poseidon. I came here in an attempt to stop him."

"Huh?" inquired a confused Luffy. "What's Poseidon?"

"You mean you don't—" Rayleigh started before stopping himself. "—never mind. All you need to know is that it's a _massive_ warship that can obliterate this entire island."

"Seriously?" asked Luffy. "That sounds awesome!"

"It does not!" replied Rayleigh in a comical manner. "Kaido is only the beginning of this whole thing. It looks like Victor's using him to stop any opposition, and if it were my guess, it would be to stop you."

"Stop me?" repeated Luffy. "Why would he be so interested in me?"

"Do you not _think_, boy?" asked an agitated Rayleigh. "There was a reason Victor went to hunt after you personally, without using some of his personal lackeys. It's because he _fears_ you that he does it. He's seen the amount of time it took for you to get such a high bounty, and having such a powerful crew doesn't help as well. He wants you out of the picture as soon as possible."

Luffy remained silent, as if he just connected all of the evidence at once to have an epiphany on the situation.

Rayleigh continued. "So I figure the best way to spite that bastard would be for you to get to the Hydrox Isle as quick as possible and make sure he doesn't raise Poseidon. Forget about Kaido and let me deal with him. You just focus on getting to where you need to go and stopping Poseidon from being raised."

"Okay!" Luffy yelled, now fired up.

He tried to stand slowly, and after a few shaky movements, he saw that it came slightly easier than before, and after a few seconds he was on his feet, not in the best shape, but he would only get better over time.

"And I would try and stress to you to _not_ fight Victor alone," Rayleigh said, "but just like him, you wouldn't listen anyways. Just be careful, okay?"

Luffy nodded. "Right!"

"If my math is correct, the Hydrox Isle is northeast from here, so go there as fast as possible. I was able to grab you and avoid Kaido, but I don't think he'll keep searching for too long; he's bound to find us soon."

Luffy smiled and said, "Thanks Rayleigh. You really saved my ass back there; good luck against Kaido. I know you can take him."

Rayleigh matched his smile and nodded.

Luffy raised his fists in the air and shouted, "Let's go!"

After a few seconds, he looked around and finally asked Rayleigh, "Which way is northeast?"

Rayleigh put his hand to his face and pointed in the proper direction. Luffy said his thanks and took off in that direction, clearly excited to be moving again.

"Oh boy…" Rayleigh said, shaking his head. "I'm sure he'll be okay…"

With that, he took off towards Kaido to help Shanks out.

— — —

Ridge and Julia Carrison weren't lying when they said they had other business to take care of, leaving the Straw Hats at their house. Running the rebellion of the Vespian Isles was no easy feat for the two of them, and after the initial invasion started, they still had to attend to a few things.

Things that no doubt had the utmost importance to the entire rebellion.

The first phase of the plan was simple: use snipers to confuse the Plague Pirates in an attempt to draw them away from the Hydrox Isle. There, they would fall into several booby traps set by the rebels, and if necessary, the rebels would use guerilla tactics to fight off the pirates. Simple.

The next phase of the plan was also simple, yet it was vastly more important: gather all of the rebels they could and lead them to the Hydrox Isle themselves in an attempt to subdue Kaido.

True, the rebels were scattered around the Vespian Isles with the orders of subduing and securing the particular isle they were on before moving to the Vespian Isles themselves, yet Ridge and Julia had always planned to have a small yet strong strike force to storm the Hydrox Isle directly.

There, they had the hopes of finding Kaido with a few key pirates by him (operating under the assumption that Kaido was there, of course), where they would make their stand, hoping for reinforcements to trickle in after the various guerilla fighters came to join the cause. If Kaido simply wasn't on the island, then that made it all the easier for the rebels to set up traps and wait to ambush him when he came back.

Simple, yet effective.

So when Julia said to the Straw Hats "we have to take care of a few things," that really meant that they were going to their secret location in the woods to get their already armed and waiting rebels back to their house where they could meet up with the Straw Hats again and go from there.

The secret location for the elite rebel force was actually an abandoned shack in the middle of the forest, surrounded on all sides by thick vegetation that no one knows about, and would be hard-pressed to find and locate.

Ridge knocked on the shack three times in rapid succession, signaling it was them. The door opened to reveal a skeptical-looking man who lightened up almost immediately when seeing the two.

"Ridge, Julia, hey there!" he said with a smile. "And here we were thinking you were never gonna show up."

Ridge smiled and nodded while Julia said, "It's good to see you too, Ray, but we're kind of in a hurry here, so let's gear up and get ready."

The man named Ray nodded and said to the men behind him, "You heard her, boys! Let's lock and load and move out!"

All of the men were equipped with a rifle, two pistols, and a cutlass if needed. They wore a mishmash of clothing like most rebels did, yet it all seemed to have a matching tone to it. Finally, they all took their gasmasks and put them over their heads, ready to bring it down at any moment to avoid Kaido's deadly attacks.

Ridge and Julia also got equipped in similar gear, before they all filed out of the shack and stood waiting for orders. The men numbered in about thirty, a drop in the bucket when compared to the sheer size of the real rebel force, but a solid number nonetheless.

Ridge nodded at Julia, who looked at the men and said, "Alright, we're going to go back to our place and pick up a few more people before we finally go."

"Why didn't you just bring them here?" inquired Ray.

"Couldn't quite trust them with this location," replied Julia. "Especially with something that's supposed to be our ace in the hole. Regardless, we're gonna go there now to—"

She was cut off as there was a large explosion and rumbling off in the distance. Everyone (including Ridge who felt the rumbling) immediately looked in the direction to see shrapnel fly into the air before settling into the ground again.

Ridge looked at Julia, who nodded and said, "I know, that's our house! Shit, it looks like they knew where we were and hit us hard!"

"Well then we gotta go in the opposite direction, before they find us, or else the whole plan's in the shitter!" stated Ray bluntly.

Julia looked at him, before saying, "You're saying we just _leave_ them there? We don't know if they're killed or not."

"It doesn't matter," Ray replied. "I don't know who these guys are, but it seems like you trust them to an extent, but you have to realize that a lot of _other_ people—people you _do_ know—are risking their lives and dying, too. And to put the whole operation on the line for a handful of people would be dishonoring their sacrifice. Right, Ridge?"

Julia looked to see her husband looking down at the ground, deep in thought. Finally, he took out his notepad and scribbled onto it quickly. He ripped it off and handed it to Julia.

It simply said: "Leave them, they can handle themselves if trouble comes their way."

"Ridge, you can't certainly mean—" Julia started.

Ridge pointed to the note as if to reiterate the point. Finally, Julia resigned and said, "Alright. Let's go then."

Ridge put a comforting hand on Julia's shoulder before tearing off another note. "I'm sure they'll be alright," it said.

"Yeah…"

After a few seconds, Ridge looked at Ray and made a motion to move. With that, they all clambered off towards the Hydrox Isle in the opposite direction of their house, which was just hit by one of William's artillery shell.

— — —

"Hold it steady!" Victor yelled to San Juan Wolf. "I said hold it steady or it'll tip over and then we'll all be fucked!"

The excavation portion was done recently, but with the increasing intensity going on around the Vespian Isles, Victor wanted the project done as soon as possible. After his men cleared the digging area, he ordered Colossal Battleship San Juan Wolf to get in there and lift Poseidon up as cautiously (but also as quickly) as possible.

Wolf obeyed, as he used his gargantuan strength to lift Poseidon up from the bottom and lifted it high over his head, letting out a grunt. Then, Victor ordered him to slowly tilt his arms backwards so that Poseidon was positioned upright and nearly touching his back. After Wolf did this, Victor told Wolf to lie down while still holding the ship to his back, and then letting it rest gently on his back while still holding it to make sure it didn't fall.

When this task was completed, Victor ordered his now-idle men from the Blade, Power, and Zoan Corps to get to work and secure the object onto Wolf's back. Victor wasn't foolish enough to believe that Wolf would be able to lug that thing around like the old ship, but he also knew that despite Wolf's massive size and strength, he wouldn't make it to the ocean by just holding the Poseidon in his arms. No doubt at some point it would break, and then his mission wouldn't have been fulfilled.

His men went to work with a large amount of massive chains and went to wrapping and securing them on both Wolf and Poseidon. Victor watched intently as the remainder of the Corps of Kings sat around and watched as well.

"You know, I somehow thought this would be more exciting," Aliyyah finally said. "Yet here we are, not doing anything at all."

"Would you rather be working with the others?" Victor honestly asked, but got no response to.

Regardless of the silence, Vendrix Confreski persisted in the thought. "And to think I could be getting fuck-drunk right now, but I guess watching the tedious and laborious task of getting a boat on a giant's back is just as good."

Tobias remained silent during all of this.

"If you wanna leave, be my guest," stated Victor bluntly. "Yet if you value your life, I suggest you stay right here until we're ready to leave, because once we are, I can personally assure you that no one is going to come and find you."

"Going to commence Operation Rolling Thunder then, eh?" snickered Kaede. "And here I thought you were all talk."

"The Poseidon holds the power to obliterate an island within an instant," Victor said, snapping his fingers. "Its main power comes from the unique mechanisms within the ship."

"Mechanisms?" questioned Kenji.

"Indeed," Victor said. "While it would be too much to explain right now, the Poseidon essentially holds the power to mess with the gravitational waves within the ocean's current, essentially creating a massive tidal wave that can engulf entire islands whole."

"Sounds pretty impressive," said Daron. "But I thought you have the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, which can basically do the same thing, so why don't you just do that instead of going through all this trouble?"

"Good question," smiled Victor. "And there are three answers for it. Number one: while that may be Poseidon's main power, it is still a massive warship that anyone would want to be riding in, giving us optimal shelter and attack powers when fighting on the sea, plus the Adam Wood it's made out of. Number two: the powers of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit are to cause earthquakes, and tsunamis come from a side-effect of that. Yet when all things are taken into consideration, the tsunamis made by underwater earthquakes pale in comparison to the sheer might of a tidal wave Poseidon can create."

Everyone remained silent as Victor held up his finger and explained the last point.

"And number three: I don't like the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit and currently am not able to control it fully; to do so must take a lifetime, as Whitebeard has shown. In short, I will only use the incredibly dangerous power as a last resort, as it can easily backfire on all of us and then we'd all be screwed."

The Corps behind him looked like they were having trouble securing Poseidon.

Finally, as if to change the subject, Benjamin McAllister asked, "So I can't help but notice we're one short. Where's William Helmont anyway?"

"He went to go make sure Kaido doesn't fuck anything else up," replied Victor. "He knows of the plan and will be back shortly I'm sure. Of course, if he's not and we're ready to leave, then I'll commence Operation Rolling Thunder without him, and he'll become just another poor victim."

"Pretty harsh," Aliyyah commented.

"It's for the greater good," replied Victor. "Besides, I'm sure he'll be back soon anyway…"

— — —

"Blast-Blast Cannon!"

William's transformed right arm fired a cannonball towards the three marines, who scattered almost immediately behind some of the scattering trees. William smiled as he fired another quick shot, demolishing the tree with Hina behind it, exposing her. She ran towards William quickly.

She used the power of the Bind-Bind Fruit to summon a cage around William, before attempting to restrict it and capture William, saying, "Feather Cage!"

William simply smiled and leapt into the air, avoiding the cage entirely. Hina looked surprised but William simply turned his right index finger into a gun barrel and fired at Hina, hitting her in the shoulder. She gave a quick cry of pain and fell to the floor, where William landed and pointed the gun barrel at her head.

Before he could fire, Commodore Smoker was on him and smashed him in the side of his head with his jutte, sending him flying away from Hina. He landed on his feet and looked at Smoker with a smile, a thin line of blood flowing from the side of his mouth.

"Not bad there," he said. "No need to be impatient though, I'll get to you all."

"I don't have time for your games," Smoker said flatly, "so I'm going to have to end this quickly."

"Oh is that so?" asked William with the same smirk. "Then I guess I'll have to attack with the same mindset…"

* * *

Gunslinger William Helmont vs. the Marines!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	60. The Gunslinger

Blast-Blast vs. Plume-Plume, who will win? Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**60: The Gunslinger**

William wiped the blood from his mouth and continued to look at Smoker with the same unrelenting smile. "That jutte you got there," he started. "It's got a seastone in the tip of it, doesn't it?"

Smoker chomped on the two cigars in his mouth before saying, "And what if it did?"

William let out a little laugh as he said, "Well if you did, then I'd say that I'm gonna have to watch out for such a device. We devil fruit users don't like getting our powers taken away, am I right?"

The Commodore remained silent as he gripped the jutte a little tighter, saying, "Are you gonna move, or am I gonna have to force you down and arrest you myself and make you tell me all you know about Victor?"

"So you know I work for Victor, eh?" chuckled William.

_(Fleet Admiral Sengoku had commissioned Commodore Smoker to carefully review all of the videos and transcripts shown)_

"You guys weren't exactly subtle when you were capturing devil fruit-users," he simply replied.

Tipping up his cowboy hat up, William smirked, and then jumped in the air at lightning quick speed. He quickly transformed his right arm into a cannon and aimed it down at all three gathered marines, the smile still wide on his face.

Smoker sensed this and was on the move, turning into a spiraling column of smoke and yelling, "White Vine!"

Before William could hit Hina and Tashigi, Smoker rushed towards him, and he was forced to aim the cannon at the breaching Smoker. "Blast-Blast Cannon!" he yelled, firing a cannonball towards Smoker.

It went through the smoke and seemed to explode within it, dispelling it altogether and stopping the attack, sending both Smoker and William barreling to the floor due to the impact. Both of them landed on their feet and almost immediately, Smoker grabbed his jutte and rushed towards William.

Thinking fast, William Helmont turned his index finger into a gun barrel and aimed it at Smoker, firing off three quick shots. Smoker ignored them as they simply passed through them, continuing to rush at his opponent.

When he was close enough, Smoker brought his jutte down towards William with resounding force. The quick William, however, side-stepped the attack at the last moment, and used this opportunity to attack the unguarded Smoker.

He transformed his right arm into a large barrel and aimed it at Smoker's head. "Blast-Blast Shotgun!" he yelled, sending a massive shell through Smoker's head, creating a hole through the top-right quarter of his skull.

Despite it not harming him, William turned his free left arm into a cannon and fired right at Smoker's feet, using the explosion on the ground to take out the bottom half of his body and giving him time to jump away from the Commodore.

While the smoke was clearing, William caught his breath and said, "That Plume-Plume Fruit of yours is pretty tricky there, Smoker; it seems as if none of my attacks will work against you. Why are you Logia's always so damn troublesome?"

Before the smoke could fully clear, Ensign Tashigi rushed through it with her katana at the ready. She raised it high and brought it down, attempting to cut William in half vertically. This attack was stopped, however, when William brought his right arm up horizontally to stop the blow dead in their tracks; Tashigi looked shocked as she saw that her sword didn't even cut his arm.

William sensed this and said, "Why do you look so surprised? If I can turn my body into any weapon I please, surely my body can become as hard as the metals regular weapons are made of, correct?"

Tashigi quickly hopped away and swung her sword again, this time hitting a complacent William right in his neck. The sword stopped and he smiled at her, uninjured.

"You seem to be slow," he mocked. "No matter, I'll take care of you quickly."

He turned his right arm into a shotgun and aimed it at Tashigi. "If you're not a Logia like Smoker," he continued, "then killing you should be child's play!"

Before he could fire a shot, however, Captain Hina was already on him, throwing a kick towards the side of his head which sent him flying to the ground and hitting it with a crash. He quickly rolled to his feet and aimed the shotgun at Hina and fired it.

"Blast-Blast Shotgun!"

She quickly ran and leapt into the air towards him, however, avoiding the attack entirely. She landed behind him and threw another kick to his neck, sending him to the floor yet again.

Hina spat out her cigarette and said casually, "Hmph, he's not lying. That first kick I dealt to him felt like I was hitting a rifle."

William arose, gripping his neck, blood flowing down from his mouth, to the side of him lay his cowboy hat. He picked it up and placed it back on top of his head. The three marines noticed he was breathing somewhat heavily.

"However," continued the grinning Hina, "the one weakness to it is that it's not a permanent effect; he has to transform his body by will, and if you catch him off-guard—like I did—you'll just hit soft flesh."

William was on his feet and surprisingly smiled at Hina. "Good observation there, Captain, pickin' up on devil fruit's weaknesses that quickly." Then he added under his breath, "Not that it'll matter anyway."

Hina looked behind William and said, "Oh, I think it will matter…"

William sensed Smoker rushing behind him with his weapon raised, and he responded quickly by throwing his right leg behind him in a sweeping arc, surprisingly creating a large explosion follow that same pattern, stopping Smoker dead in his tracks.

William laughed at the surprised Hina and said, "What, did you think I didn't have the power to make bombs as well?"

Smoker quickly reconstituted himself and shot a large fist of condensed smoke towards him. "White Blow!"

William leapt into the air to avoid it, but Smoker maneuvered it so that it followed him through the air. Not being able to dodge in the air, William took the attack straight to his chest, which sent him flying to the floor on his back.

Smoker quickly rushed towards William and leapt towards him, intent on hitting him with the seastone tip of his jutte. He was right over him and about the bring the weapon down, but William shot his eyes opened and transformed his hand into a cannon, firing it right at Smoker's face from pointblank range.

"Smoker!" Hina yelled, rushing towards the two of them, Tashigi at her side.

The force of the blow sent Smoker back and smoke flying everywhere, shielding the two fighters. Before Hina and Tashigi could get any closer, two bullets flew from the smoke and hit Hina in her leg and Tashigi in her shoulder.

Both recoiled as the smoke cleared, revealing William holding both his index fingers up that were transformed into gun barrels. "I suggest you get the fuck away," he barked to the two of them. "There's no room here for lightweights."

Suddenly, a white arm stretched out at William with a cigar between its fingers. William looked at it too late before it forcibly knocked his cowboy hat off and used the cigar to burn his forehead, causing him to shriek out in pain. Before William could react, another white arm came out and hit him right in his stomach, winding the unprepared William and sending him to the ground.

"You're starting to anger me," the fallen William heard Smoker say, as he reappeared, only one cigar in his mouth now. "And you don't wanna see me when I get _really_ angry."

William got up and left his cowboy hat forgotten, revealing his dark brown hair that was chin-length and parted down the middle to keep the hair out of his forehead, which now had a very noticeable black mark on it due to the cigar.

"It's quite depressing that I can't even injure you," William said strangely. "That Plume-Plume Fruit is a real bitch, you know that."

"Well that's too bad for you that you went against me then," Smoker coolly replied. "So you might as well just give up and tell me everything you know on Victor, so it can be easier to arrest him as well."

William sensed both Hina and Tashigi, now recovered, rushing towards him again, hoping to catch him from behind off-guard. "Nice try," he smiled, as he threw his right arm behind him in the direction of the two marines. "Blast-Blast Bomb!"

Throughout the entirety of William's arm, small sphere-shaped bombs flew out of them and towards Hina and Tashigi, causing a large explosion and forcing them to stop and retreat to avoid getting wounded.

"But it'll take more than that to get me to say anything," he finished, looking at Smoker the entire time.

Smoker moved toward William and swung his jutte at him, but he quickly leapt up and avoided it, landing behind Smoker, and now facing all three marines at once who regrouped immediately.

"Fear not though," William continued with his familiar smile, "for I have found a way to defeat all of you at once."

"And how do you plan to do that?" asked a curious Tashigi.

William let out a small chuckle and replied, "With the Blast-Blast Fruit's greatest technique, of course."

William held up his right arm and let out a small roar. Soon enough, the marines could see the changes as William's fingers began to join together, and before they knew it, William's entire forearm was transformed into a shiny silver circular gun, but this one was different. Instead of having one barrel like his other weapons, there were five that were evenly spaced throughout the edge of the circular weapon.

William laughed at this sight and pointed the new weapon at the group. "Blast-Blast Gatling!"

Smoker immediately sensed the danger as he yelled to the other two, "Both of you, take cover now!"

Without wasting a second, William began to fire the weapon, but unlike all the other weapons he had used before, the firing was automatic, as a steady stream of bullets flew out of all five barrels at once like a machinegun.

All three marines quickly moved out of the way of its fire and scattered in separate directions as they all took cover in the trees and foliage that surrounded them. William smiled as he moved the Gatling gun on his arm with its continuous fire to the trees they were hiding behind. With the weapon's power, it easily chipped away at the trees until eventually they fell.

"It's only a matter of time before I find you!" he yelled. "You can't hide forever!"

Smoker realized this as he realized he could be the only one who would be able to stand up to the might of William's greatest weapon. In an attempt to draw William's fire towards himself instead of Tashigi and Hina, he rushed out of his cover and ran straight towards William.

The Gunslinger saw this and aimed his Gatling gun towards Smoker, unloading all of the bullets at him. Due to Smoker's Logia-status, the bullets all plowed right through him, and he didn't even slow down.

William expected this as he cocked his left arm back while still rapidly firing at the approaching Smoker. Then, throwing his arm forward, he released a series of small bombs from his forearm that flew towards Smoker and hit him dead on, causing him to explode and fall back.

Smoker quickly reformed and reappeared over William, holding out his jutte with his outstretched right arm. William quickly turned his left arm into a cannon and fired, this time hitting Smoker right in his shoulder, severing his right arm altogether. William smiled as he leapt into the air and quickly grabbed the falling jutte with his left hand before landing on the floor and continuing his rapid fire at Smoker.

Before Smoker could recover entirely, William was right in front of him, the seastone tip of his own jutte pointed at him. He couldn't dodge it as he took the strike dead-on in the chest, sending him flying to the floor. William kept the jutte pressed down on Smoker's chest before finally turning his right arm back to normal.

"Well how's it feel Smoker?" he gleefully asked. "How's it feel to have your own weapon used against you? It sure is nice to know you can't transform into that pesky smoke anymore."

"You bastard," Smoker said gruffly. "You planned this all along."

"Maybe so," he said, transforming his right index finger into a gun barrel and aimed it at Smoker's head. "All you need to know, is that it's over for you. But for what it's worth, it was fun, Commodore Smoker."

Before he could fire off the shot, however, he heard Hina's voice. "Fastening Fixture!"

With that, two black handcuffs flew towards the unsuspecting William and hit both of his wrists at once, binding them together in front of him and causing him to drop the jutte. He looked over angrily at Hina and was about to say something, but blinding pain cut him off as he felt a painful slash at his left ribcage.

He looked to see a smiling Tashigi standing there, blood on her sword. "Looks like you weren't prepared that time," she smirked.

"You!" William said, preparing to attack.

"White Blow!"

Smoker shot a massive white fist straight at William's chest sending him flying into the air, but Smoker didn't stop there. He transformed his other fist and threw both of them into the air in rapid succession, all of them hitting the defenseless and bound William Helmont, causing blood to fly from his face. After several attacks, Smoker subsided and let William fall to the ground on his back with a dull thud.

Hina lit a new cigarette as she saw the motionless William and said, "Bastard got what he deserved." She turned to Smoker and said, "You should be thanking us, you know."

Smoker smiled as he looked at both Tashigi and Hina and nodded. "Thanks…"

Not a few seconds, after, Gunslinger William Helmont rose up from his spot, blood everywhere on his face, breathing heavily. He looked at the group with disturbing eyes, yet his hands were still bound by Hina's Bind-Bind Fruit powers, so for now he looked powerless.

_("Who the fuck is this kid?" the darkened man asked his family, picking up the toddler and inspecting him)_

After a few breaths, he said to the marines, "I was abandoned at birth by my real family and left to wander and die. Before I could kick the bucket, though, I was picked up by a rather large family and I suppose you could say they adopted me."

Everyone remained silent for the story.

"I thought that would be a good thing," he continued, "but I turned out to be wrong…horribly wrong. They treated me as a slave, and made me do everything they needed doing."

_("How many times did I tell you?" the darkened man asked, smashing a young William across his face. "You were supposed to finish all of the chores before coming back into the house!" The man didn't let up as he beat upon the young William mercilessly until he was on the floor in a bloody pulp begging for no more)_

"I loathed them, hated them, and often thought about killing them. Then, one day after years of living under them and being a young teenager, I stumbled across a rather interesting fruit; a devil fruit, as it would seem."

_("Please," William begged to no one but himself, holding the devil fruit up to his face. "Please grant me the power to escape from this life…")_

"I was lucky that I got the power that I did, and I used it to the fullest."

Both Hina and Tashigi shuddered slightly at how he said this.

"I killed them all," he said, without any regret in his voice. "I slaughtered them like animals, and they deserved it, and furthermore, _I enjoyed doing it_. Now free of that family, I wandered around in limbo. It wasn't that long before I realized I was alone and might not be able to help myself."

Smoker inched forward a few feet, intent on capturing the raving William.

He continued: "Fast forward a few years later. I was a homeless man, killing for money or food just to survive. It was a terrible life, but then that man came to me and offered me salvation."

_("You look pretty wrecked," a smiling Victor said to a huddled and shivering William. "I've heard about you around here and I think you're just the man I need." He held out his hand and continued, "Join me, and I will give you a purpose in life…")_

Suddenly, to everyone's surprise, William began to yell. "It was Victor who saved me from my own personal hell, and I owe everything I am to him! How can you, marines who don't even care to protect people like me, expect me to so easily betray the one who offered me salvation? Where were you when that family used me as a slave, huh? _WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU?_"

Smoker stopped as William reached up with his bound hands and ripped off his shirt underneath his trench coat, exposing his bare chest. To everyone's surprise, right in the middle where his heart was, there was what looked to be a red glowing item beneath his skin, which seemed to beat to a set rhythm.

Smoker immediately stopped moving.

William Helmont was laughing now. "I was lying when I said that the Blast-Blast Gatling was my greatest technique. _This_ is my greatest technique, a bomb implanted within my chest used only as a last resort for the eater of the Blast-Blast Fruit. Although I will die, I'll be taking you three with me."

"You'd be willing to do that?" asked Hina.

William smiled at this. "If I can lessen Victor's enemies even by one and help him get one step further to getting to One Piece, then I am content to die. Besides…without him, I wouldn't be alive today to begin with."

Smoker realized he wasn't bluffing and roared to Hina and Tashigi, _"Get as far away as you can!"_

They sensed his urgency and began to take off in the other direction.

The glowing object in William's chest began to beat faster and faster, as his laugh became more sporadic and maniacal. Smoker began to run away as well, hoping to get out of the explosion's range.

_"BLAST-BLAST HOLOCAUST!"_ Gunslinger William Helmont yelled, laughing all the way.

The explosion was truly massive, as it engulfed everything within a large radius and shot into the air like a large beacon of light. Its white light persisted for a few seconds, before finally settling down and relieving the charred masses that itself engulfed.

Within the epicenter of the explosion, nothing remained any longer.

— — —

The explosion was noticed by almost everyone on the Vespian Isles due to its sheer size and noise level, but only Victor recognized it for what it truly was.

He smiled and said to himself, "I hope you can find happiness in some other life William, but for now, you have my thanks."

Then, the entire Corps of Kings heard a rustling sound and what sounded suspiciously like Julia's voice. Victor smiled at this as he looked at everyone within the corps and asked, "Well, shall we see what our uninvited guests want?"

* * *

Stumbling onto something bigger than they ever imagined...

**Behind the Character (3): William Helmont**

It should be noted that while I was writing this story, I was also heavily involved in reading several novels by Stephen King (which, as some may notice, is where I get a large amount of my writing influence from). Among the stories I've read, I have taken the ambitious path of reading his epic seven-novel long story _The Dark Tower _Series. Among it, the first book is simply called _The Gunslinger_, and it entails the quest of Roland, the world's last gunslinger and his epic quest to reach the Dark Tower, a quest that doesn't end until the seventh book.

I say this because if I were to list one character that influenced William's character, it would have to be Roland. Now I'll be the first to admit that it's only a loose semblance (at least personality-wise) at best, but that's only because William got little screen-time. This goes into what I believe to be my biggest fault of this story, that of which a lot of my main OC bad guys aren't touched upon mostly, getting outshined by the more prominent ones (like Victor and Vendrix and Tobias for instance).

Now this is normal within any story (as even the great One Piece suffers from it), but it still stands that I regret it. Regardless, I personally enjoyed writing William, thinking him to be a fun character with an interesting (at least in my perspective) back-story. Personality-wise, I would have to say that as previously stated, he was loosely (emphasis on the word loosely) based on Roland from _The Dark Tower _Series. Regardless, I still added in my own personality traits in there to make him unique in his own way.

Design-wise, I would have to say that he's physically similar looking to Roland (with his facial features and hairstyle and such), and clothing wise, I based it somewhat off of Irvine Kinneas, a sharpshooter character from _Final Fantasy 8_.

I think the Blast-Blast Fruit was one of my more interesting ideas, but even I know that it goes along the same principle of Mr. 1's Dice-Dice Fruit, but only with ranged weapons. I did enjoy thinking up the Gatling gun idea, however.

Being the first of the Corps of Kings to go, I feel a sad sense of longing for him, but regardless, I am still proud of this character and what I was able to do with him, even if his dialogue and actions were limited.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	61. Red Haired Shanks vs Plaguebringer Kaido

Not too long ago, the meeting took place...Enjoy!

**Damn, no One Piece manga for four weeks...how the hell am I gonna cope?**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**61: Red-Haired Shanks vs. Plaguebringer Kaido**

_"Whitebeard's going to the Marine Headquarters to go and save Fire-Fist Ace?" asked a surprised Kaido when one of his men reported to him._

_The pirate nodded._

_Kaido let out a roaring laugh. "Tragagaga! This is fantastic; just the moment I was waiting for! Now's the perfect chance to ambush that old bastard and take him out while he's in grief over his poor captured commander!"_

_He turned away from the pirate and towards his other men, standing around on his flagship idly. "Come on then!" he ordered to them. "Let's get to the ship to go and intercept him before he gets to Marineford!"_

_The men immediately hopped to it, and sailing on the New World was smooth, especially for the joyous Kaido who had pledged to lessen the Yonko's numbers by one…_

_Not a day later and something eventful happened on Kaido's ship._

_"Captain, there's a large ship coming straight for us!"_

_"Who would be stupid enough to attack us?" asked a curious Kaido._

_The pirate faltered. "It, uh, appears to belong to Shanks, Captain."_

_"What?" Kaido was immediately up, looking at the ship's symbol. Kaido immediately recognized it and muttered, "Son of a bitch doesn't know when to stop."_

_He quickly turned towards the pirates and said, "By the speed and angle they're coming in at, they want us to know they're here, so he most likely wants to talk. However, I want you all to be ready to fight regardless."_

_The pirates cheered and went to grab weapons._

_Shanks' ship, the _Red Force_, docked close to Kaido's, and soon enough, the red-haired Yonko himself boarded, with only Benn Beckman, Lucky Roo, and Yasopp at his side, all four with masks on their face to shield themselves from Kaido's power. He quickly raised his right arm up to show that he came in peace. _

_Kaido took a seat and eyed the four pirates. "So what is it you want?"_

_Shanks smiled and said, "Nice to see you too Kaido."_

_"Cut the shit and tell me!"_

_Shanks didn't seem threatened by this, as he replied. "Well, I hear that you're going to be fighting the Old Man yourself before he can make it to Marineford."_

_Kaido sighed and put a hand to his face. "To think that nothing can be a secret amongst the Yonko's anymore…So what if I am?"_

_"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," said Shanks earnestly. "To ambush Whitebeard would cause instability amongst the seas. And besides that, he's not someone you want to be picking a fight with."_

_"Tragagaga!" Kaido laughed. "You just don't know a good opportunity when you see it. If I take down Whitebeard that means all of the Yonko will be one step closer to One Piece."_

_Shanks shook his head disapprovingly. "I don't want it to come to this, Kaido, but if you insist on continuing with your current course, I'm going to have to forcibly stop you."_

_"You'd do that just for Whitebeard?" asked Kaido curiously._

_Shanks drew his sword and stared at Kaido with stony eyes. "Why don't you test me to find out?"_

_After a few seconds, Kaido shook his head. "No thanks. If I fight with you, my force will easily be cut in half, and I would be foolish to take on Whitebeard with a diminished crew. I wasn't counting on having another Yonko ambush me before I ambushed him, but I guess it's enough to stop me."_

_Shanks smiled as he sheathed his sword. "A wise choice."_

_"Now get the hell off of my ship," he said bluntly._

_Shanks complied, and within a minute, he was back on the _Red Force _and setting sail again. When he was gone, Kaido slumped back into his seat and sighed, ordering his men to set a different course._

_"Why does everyone have to be so damned troublesome?" he asked himself._

— — —

"Right after my little chat with you, I set sail for the Vespian Isles for a little bit of relaxation," Kaido said to Shanks. "I had no idea I was sitting on a veritable goldmine."

"Come to think of it," recalled Shanks, "you didn't want to fight me before, yet now you seem almost insistent on it. I wonder what made such a sudden turnaround in you."

Kaido scoffed at this. "Back then, I had nothing major to fight for—simply a chance to kill Whitebeard. Now, however, I have much bigger things in my plans."

"The Poseidon, you mean?" asked Shanks curiously.

Kaido nodded firmly. "Victor should be excavating it as we speak, and once I have it, I'll rule the Grand Line!"

Shanks shook his head. "You shouldn't trust people like Victor. It always turns out bad in the end."

"Whatever," Kaido replied with. "I'll kill him once he gets me what I want, and then Poseidon will be mine and mine alone."

Shanks pulled out his sword and said, "You're a poor disillusioned fool, Kaido, and I'm afraid you'll have to be stopped."

Kaido pointed to Shanks' face and said, "You wore a mask last time when you planned on fighting me, yet not this time. Why is that?"

Shanks gave a little chuckle. "Come on Kaido, we both know that you could easily destroy any masking device with your powers anyway."

"Tragagaga. You know my powers well."

Shanks shifted a bit with his sword at the ready. "Enough talk. Let's end this once and for all!"

"Sounds good!"

Kaido went first, as he summoned up a large amount of mucus in his mouth and shot it at Shanks, yelling, "Muck-Up Mucus!"

Shanks used his quick footwork to dodge the attack and move towards Kaido, his sword ready to kill. He quickly moved to bring a strike down on Kaido, but he moved quickly and dodged the attack, appearing at the side of Shanks.

Thinking fast, Shanks did a quick turn and aimed his sword at Kaido from a distance. He swung it down with massive force, and it was able to send a large shockwave through the air towards Kaido, who caught it in his chest and was knocked off the ground, landing on the floor with a grunt.

He quickly rose to see Shanks standing there, switching his steps up back and forth with a grin on his face. "Come on Kaido, surely you can't be that worn out. If it were the old you, you could have dodged that easily."

Kaido surprisingly returned his smile and said, "You mean that attack? Funny, it didn't feel like anything hit me at all."

Shanks smiled as he moved again, this time keeping his distance and using his power to send another shockwave towards Kaido, which he easily dodged. Shanks didn't let up as he sent a series off shockwave attacks towards Kaido, all of which he handily dodged and instead hit the trees behind him, knocking some of them over.

Kaido moved then, running towards Shanks with surprising speed. Before Shanks knew it, he threw a massive fist towards Shank's direction, but he was able to hop back slightly right before it hit, his arm instead flying an inch away from him.

Kaido smiled at this, however, as a strange amount of mucus began to develop on his arm and threw itself on Shanks. Thankfully, he leapt back in time and the mucus simply hit the floor. Shanks retreated several feet away and breathed a small sigh of relief.

"I know why you won't come and fight me head on," Kaido said bluntly. "You know that I can easily release a toxic wave of viruses and bacteria from me that could easily get you infected."

"So what?" asked the smiling Shanks.

Kaido held his arm out in front of him, mucus still surrounding it in a protective coat. "So you also seem to have forgotten that I have other ways of attack, other than just sending invisible bacteria flying towards you. I can create mucus like all over my body to coat and protect myself, and what's more, I can make it whatever shape I want to hit you."

"Man, the Flu-Flu Fruit sure is scary," he simply said.

Kaido smiled as he created a large amount of mucus behind him and sent it flying towards Shanks like a wave.

"Wobbly Wave!" he yelled.

Shanks sensed the danger and immediately leapt into the air and landed on a branch in a nearby tree, all while the mucus swept through the floor and covered it, killing any grass and foliage it hit. Shanks mentally noted that if he was hit by that, he was finished.

Kaido moved quickly, however, and was right next to the tree Shanks was up in. He threw a quick jab towards it, cutting the trunk in two, sending it falling to the floor.

"Damn!" Shanks yelled, as he leapt from the tree towards Kaido and quickly slashed him across his shoulder before landing behind him.

Shanks inspected his sword and saw that some mucus was on the tip from where he hit Kaido. With a sickened face, he quickly whipped it to the floor before looking at Kaido again, who was gripping his bleeding shoulder.

"Looks like you can't whip up some kind of disease to heal that," Shanks chuckled. "Such a shame that—"

He suddenly burst into a series of several coughs, cutting off what he was saying. He looked at his enemy to see a grinning Kaido. "Looks like you fell right into my trap," he laughed. "You were to busy focusing on the obvious attack, and completely disregarding the subtle attack to your system."

Shanks coughed again and saw that there was blood flowing from his mouth. "So you got me with the Break-Down Bug, eh Kaido?"

"Perhaps," replied the smiling Kaido. "Unfortunately, the most subtle attacks I can hit you with won't kill you immediately, but they'll weaken you physically until I can finish you off myself. You should have known not to be so foolhardy when you—"

He stopped abruptly when he saw that Shanks had disappeared and suddenly appeared right in front of the surprised Kaido. Not wasting any time, Shanks threw up a massive upward diagonal slash spanning from Kaido's left side going all the way up to his wounded shoulder.

Kaido quickly reacted by throwing a punch, but Shanks disappeared by then and was a good distance away, beginning to cough again. Blood spurted from Kaido's wound as he looked at his fellow Yonko.

"Down, but not out, eh?" he asked.

Shanks' only reply was that with another series of coughs and the momentary buckle of his legs. After this, he seemed to regain his composure and looked perfectly fine, which seemed to anger Kaido to some degree.

"The Break-Down Bug starts slow," justified Kaido, "but it won't be long before you can't move at all."

"Sorry," Shanks said, holding up an empty syringe to Kaido. "But you said it yourself: I know your powers well. Well enough to be able to whip together some vaccines that I took before this fight."

"You—" Kaido started.

"But I'm no fool," continued Shanks. "I know that you constantly change around the antigens of your own attacks, but regardless, the medicine is able to weaken it, so I'm afraid some coughing and occasional buckling of the knees is all you're Break-Down Bug is gonna get outta me."

"Looks like you're gonna need something more potent," Kaido said grimly.

"You said it yourself," Shanks smiled. "The more powerful attacks are a bit more obvious."

Kaido didn't respond as he held out his right arm and a large amount of mucus formed around it. Before long, it took the shape of a menacing-looking sword that covered the entirety of his arm. He quickly lunged at Shanks and threw his right arm at him, hoping to hit him.

"Suffering Sword!"

Shanks quickly dodged, having Kaido slam the weapon into the ground. Shanks was quickly at Kaido's side and looked to attack Kaido once more. Despite this, Kaido smiled and yelled, "Fool, you're close enough to get more powerful viruses in you! Get ready for—"

He found that surprisingly, his powers didn't activate, and as such, Shanks was able to deal Kaido a grisly slash across his exposed ribs. He gave a burst of pain and threw his right fist at Shanks, but he simply leapt back out of Kaido's range. The Plaguebringer stared at Shanks with a mix of rage and incredulity in his eyes.

"Damn you and your Haki, Red-Hair!"

Shanks had a series of quick coughs before saying, "Gotta work with what I got, seeing as how I don't have a powerful devil fruit like you."

"You'll pay for your words and attacks, Red-Hair!"

He moved to strike again, but suddenly, he felt a large burst of pain coming from his back, and before he could react, he saw a figure leap in front of him and land next to Shanks. He looked and immediately saw who it was.

"Sorry for being so late," Dark King Silvers Rayleigh said to Shanks, holding a bloodied sword in his hand. "But I had to…clear some things up with Luffy."

Shanks smiled. "That's fine…as long as you're here now."

"So what's the status report?" he asked.

Shanks coughed a bit before answering. "I've scored some hits on him, but he's showing no signs of slowing down, whereas he's infected me, and I don't know if the vaccine is potent enough to stop all of it."

"I see," Rayleigh replied, looking at Kaido.

"Always having to interfere, don't you Rayleigh?" Kaido barked. "You should have just stayed in retirement."

"Not when such important things are going on around me," he proudly replied. "Regardless, now you'll be facing me as well, so you better plan accordingly."

Kaido stared at him, breathing somewhat raggedly but still having plenty of life in him. Surprisingly, he smiled and said, "I plan to, don't worry…"

* * *

The Dark King makes his entrance in the nick of time!

**I figured out how to cope with the loss of One Piece for a month...I'll just keep writing until I reach the conclusion of my own version of One Piece! Wish me luck!**

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	62. Pandemic of Pride

Yonko and Dark King vs. the Plaguebringer...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**62: Pandemic of Pride**

Silvers Rayleigh stared at Kaido intently and sent a Haki wave flying towards him. The wave flew over Kaido and after it passed, he stood there completely unaffected.

"Damn," Rayleigh said with a sigh. "I thought that might knock him unconscious and we could end this quickly. Oh well."

Shanks couldn't help but sound condescending when he said, "Who do you think we're dealing with here? A simple burst of Haki won't knock him down."

Kaido, however, looked at them humorlessly. He cocked his right fist back and summoned a large amount of mucus on it and morphed it into the shape of a giant fist. He then threw it forward yelling, "Feverish Fist!"

When his arm reached its final length, the mucus detached and continued flying towards the two in the shape of a fist. They both leapt out of the way in opposite directions immediately. Then, they both immediately rushed towards him on opposite sides with their swords ready to strike.

Kaido stood motionless and simply smiled. He summoned a large amount of mucus on his body that formed in front of him in a massive ball. Right before they were in range, the ball seemed to collapse in on itself for a second, before flying out sending out massive streams of deadly mucus in multiple directions.

"Suffering Sphere!"

Both fighters immediately stopped in their tracks and leapt away, but not before some of the mucus splashed itself on both of them. Shanks got it on his left thigh, while Rayleigh got it on his left forearm.

Both landed several feet away and breathed heavily. "You alright, Old Man?" Shanks asked.

Rayleigh winced as the mucus seemed to burn itself into his arm. Then he looked at Shanks and replied, "I'm fine, hopefully. How about you?"

Shanks tested his leg by lifting it up and wincing while doing it. "I dunno, I'll have to get back to you on that."

"Tragagaga! You guys really are brainless aren't you?" mocked Kaido. "Once you're hit with my mucus, the bacteria finds its way into your body. The one you just got hit with has the effect of freezing up your muscles wherever it hits."

"Ah shit…" Shanks muttered, already feeling his left leg lock up. "Looks like I'm fighting with a limp now."

"As I with one arm," replied Rayleigh. "Oh well, life goes on."

"And this…is only just the beginning," smirked Kaido. "Now is when the real agony begins!"

He opened his mouth wide and suddenly started exhaling heavily. A large amount of white gas flew out of his mouth and began to cover the field and go towards the two. "Remember when you said the more obvious attacks were deadlier, Red-Hair?" asked Kaido with a chuckle. "Well this is an example of one of them. Noxious Gas!"

"Don't breathe it in!" Rayleigh instructed Shanks, covering his mouth with his one good arm.

"Like I need you to tell me that," replied Shanks, doing the same.

The gas drew closer, shriveling up the foliage as it went over it, as Silvers said, "We need to meet up later. For now, we need to get out of this area."

Shanks nodded as they both disappeared into the surrounding forest, leaving Kaido standing there with a grin on his face. "It won't do you cowards any good to hide!" he yelled. "I'll just clear away the woodland and then you'll have nowhere to hide!"

When he saw that there was no answer, he slowly walked to the center of the battleground and began to emit an orange gas from his body. "Fine then, have it your way!" he yelled. "Agent Orange!"

The gas spread itself out in a circle with Kaido at the epicenter, eating up the trees as it went on. He continued this and it reached a fifty meter radius before Rayleigh leapt high into the air and pointed his sword down at Kaido.

"Foolish," the Yonko simply said, cocking his fist back and covering it in mucus. "Feverish Fist!"

The giant fist flew towards Rayleigh, and he looked to his side and yelled, "Now!"

Shanks complied as he created a massive airwave by sending his sword down, hitting the fist and cutting it in half, causing it to lose its momentum and fall to the ground, leaving Rayleigh uninjured and Kaido standing there defenseless.

The Dark King barreled towards the Plaguebringer and before Kaido could react, he was on him, slamming his sword down on Kaido's exposed shoulder, causing him to scream in pain. Despite this, he used his free arm to create a small ball between his fingers and sent it flying towards Silvers, and it hit him directly in the chest.

"Peaked Poison!"

It did not causing any immediate harms, so Silvers wrenched his sword out of Kaido's shoulder and leapt back towards Shanks, who had landed on the ground adjacent to Kaido as well. Despite the blow he struck, Rayleigh was breathing somewhat heavily and said to Shanks, "Sorry, he got me."

Despite Kaido's spurting shoulder wound, he laughed at Rayleigh's predicament, pointing where the small ball hit and said, "I did more than just _get_ you, Dark King. I've effectively shut you down!"

Using his one good arm, Rayleigh ripped his shirt open at the middle to reveal a large pink mark in the shape of the ball that hit him. He then suddenly see it spread to his veins as they also became the same pink hue and quite noticeable. He saw that the veins went straight to his lungs, and with this sudden realization, Rayleigh let out a massive, racking cough. He quickly covered his mouth and when he was done, he saw that he coughed up a large amount of phlegm. After this, his breath became even raspier.

"Shit!" Shanks said, realizing the gravity of the situation. "Just take slow deep breaths Silvers, and don't move or exert yourself."

Rayleigh coughed again, and more phlegm came out as well. Kaido laughed again and said, "The Peaked Poison has the power to shut down and clog up your own lungs, making breathing quite difficult, dontcha think?"

Silvers only looked at him with the same burning intensity behind his glasses. Kaido didn't seem unnerved by this at all, and continued to gloat. "No doubt you were once something great, and if you were in your prime you would have been able to avoid such attacks, but you've grown old and weak. So much so that I can easily beat you."

He turned his head slightly to look at Shanks and continued, "And as for you Red-Hair, you—"

He stopped abruptly when he saw that Shanks had disappeared and he immediately felt himself freeze up for a second. At that second, Shanks appeared right in front of him, his sword ready. Without a word, he brought it up in a massive upward slash, sending Kaido to take a step back as blood shot out of his new wound.

He quickly threw his right arm towards Shanks, creating mucus and sending it flying towards him, but Shanks quickly leapt into the air and was over him. He was then suddenly behind him, and Kaido once again felt himself freeze up for a second. Shanks used that second to send his sword piercing through Kaido's shoulder, causing him to roar in pain.

As soon as the sword entered Kaido's body, it came back out and Shanks disappeared again, reappearing right next to the kneeling Rayleigh. He looked at the red-haired man and said, "Shanks…"

"It's alright, Old Man," he quickly said. "Don't push yourself anymore than you have to; I'll take care of the rest."

Kaido inspected Shanks' left leg and saw what he expected; it was as stiff as a board. _"He's down to one leg,"_ he thought to himself, _"yet he can still attack at such speeds. I shouldn't underestimate him too much."_

"Alright," Rayleigh said with a cough. "Just don't overuse your Haki too much, or you'll wear yourself out before long."

Shanks nodded and smiled. "You always did worry about me and Buggy unnecessarily Old Man, but I guess I should be thanking you."

Rayleigh smiled before he felt a sudden pain course through his chest. He gripped the wound and coughed violently, sending a large amount of phlegm out. Shanks knew he couldn't help him anymore, so he rushed towards Kaido in hopes to draw his attention away from Silvers.

The angered Kaido summoned a large wave of mucus behind him and threw it towards Shanks. "Wobbly Wave!"

Kaido turned out to be correct, however, as he noticed that Shanks' stiffened leg did slow him down, yet despite this, he still leapt into the air at incredible feats and flew towards Kaido, letting out a large roar with his sword aimed at his chest.

Kaido decided to meet him head on as he matched his roar and leapt up in the air towards him, cocking his fist back.

They both hit at the same time. Shanks was able to slash Kaido across the bottom-left portion of his chest, and Kaido dealt Shanks a smashing blow to his face, sending them both to the floor. They both rose at the same time, and Kaido still had that grin on his face. He held up his right fist so Shanks could see.

"I got you," he declared.

"What do you mean?" he asked, and then he suddenly knew what he meant as his image of Kaido began to distort from side-to-side.

"I implanted some microscopic germs onto my fist," he explained, "and when I hit you, they transferred to your face, where they went straight for your ocular abilities. In short, I have greatly decreased your vision. Slowly but surely, Red-Hair, I'm wearing you and the Dark King down."

Then, it happened again, as Kaido felt himself freeze up and Shanks appeared in front of him, slashing both of his legs and sending him to his knees, where Shanks delivered a smashing blow with his sword hilt to the side of his face, sending him to the floor. When Kaido was grounded, Shanks looked at his hilt to see the mucus Kaido had on to protect himself. He threw it to the ground with disgust and walked back to Rayleigh.

"I need to talk to you for a second Old Man," he said.

Kaido was up by now, blood flowing down the side of his head. "You and your fuckin' Haki!" he stated angrily. "Without it, you'd have been as blind as a bat!"

Rayleigh heard what Shanks said and asked, "You sure you wanna do that?"

"It might be a little hard on you," he replied, "but if you can pull it off, we can finish this whole thing."

"Alright then."

Kaido was clearly angered at this time. Bleeding from a dozen wounds, his breath grew ragged and he grew tired, and despite him scoring several hits on both fighters, they continued to fight and get the best of him.

"Enough of this!" he finally shouted to the two. "It's time to finish you both off for good with my greatest technique!"

Kaido suddenly looked incredibly focused, and before the two knew it, a red mist began to emanate from his skin and mouth. It continued to grow and as soon as it crossed the ground, it seemed to immediately wilt and almost immediately after, several types of fungus grew from it.

"Pestilent Plague!" he yelled. "Any part of your body touches this, and the rest of it gets infected almost immediately!"

Shanks stood there, his sword ready. He looked at Rayleigh and said, "Now or never Old Man; I'm waiting on you!"

"Got it!" Rayleigh said with a small cough. "I'm putting all my energy into this, and I don't know how long it will last, so go quickly!"

Shanks nodded, and Rayleigh stared straight at the still Kaido. Then, focusing all of his energy, he sent a massive burst of Haki flying towards him, and when it hit the mist, it seemed to part it and create a pathway straight towards the Yonko.

Shanks took that opportunity and sped down the newly-created pathway straight towards Kaido. The Plaguebringer saw this and moved back continuously, to create more of a distant between them. Then, despite the Haki, he moved his hands and threw them together in a closing motion, which sent some of the mist coming towards Shanks.

The mist touched Shanks on his right arm and then attacked his right foot, creating a large patch of red skin where it hit; almost immediately, it began to spread. Yet despite this, Shanks continued to rush towards his enemy.

"Just die already!" Kaido yelled. "My pride as a Yonko won't allow you to live any longer!"

"You forget," replied the surprisingly-smiling Shanks, despite the disease spreading throughout his body, "that I'm a Yonko with pride as well, and I've deemed you unfit to serve in our ranks anymore!"

Rayleigh's Haki began to falter now, and more mist began to hit Shanks, hastening the process, showing signs of red skin shooting up his neck and stopping right before his chin. Kaido realized he wouldn't stop and summoned a large amount of mucus in his fist. "Feverish Fist!"

The fist flew right towards Shanks, yet before he could hit, Shanks let out a massive roar, which as soon as it hit the mucus fist, it disintegrated on the spot. Kaido also noticed how the red on Shanks began to recede, and not before long, he looked completely healed. Finally, Kaido felt his entire body freeze up, yet this seemed worse than the other times.

"What the fuck is this?" he demanded, as he saw the red mist surrounding him begin to disappear as well.

The barely conscious Rayleigh smirked and answered the question to himself. "Only one in a million people are born with a special kind of Haki, known as Haoshoku Haki. With it, they're able to completely cancel out any devil fruits powers for a much longer period of time, and subsequently undo all of their attacks and effects."

Shanks let out another massive roar and raised his sword towards Kaido and in a flash, he was behind him, immediately sheathing his sword. Kaido only looked behind him for a second to see Shanks' back before muttering, "Damn…it…"

With that, Kaido's chest immediately opened up with a massive wound and not before long, he collapsed face-first on the floor, giving out a last breath of consciousness before fading away into sleep.

As soon as Kaido fainted, Shanks clutched his chest and coughed up a large amount of blood. "Even with Haoshoku Haki, his attacks still hurt…" he muttered, before looking over to see Rayleigh collapsed on the ground as well.

Shanks quickly limped over to him and picked him up and put his arm behind his neck in a supporting motion. "Don't die on me now, Old Man," he said, slapping the side of his face a few times.

He noticed his breathing was still raspy and saw that Kaido's infection to his lungs was still working. "Damn…we gotta get you to a medical center fast," he said.

He looked around the forest and said to himself, "I think the rebel's medical base is in Yalia Town…"

— — —

"Kaido's gotta be at the center behind the village," Julia Carrison said to her men, with Ridge nodding. "That's not too far, let's go!"

"I hope you're right," Ray muttered as he and his men followed them.

Not before long, they appeared past the village outskirts and saw an unnerving site.

Standing in a straight line, Victor and the entire Corps of Kings stood, each with a smile on their face, standing completely still. Behind them, they could see a massive giant on the ground with a large amount of men trying to chain a giant ship on his back.

"Welcome," Victor said to the group with a malicious grin. "Like what you see?"

* * *

Trouble brewing on the Hydrox Isle!

**Behind the Character (4): Razeden Kaido**

At the time when I'm writing this (the date reads May 17th, 2010), Eiichiro Oda in all of his great wisdom and fantastic storytelling has yet to even reveal what Kaido looks like yet, so while I was thinking of his character, he really was a blank slate to me, so all I used about this character was the name (and I even gave him a first name as well). Due to this, I feel I have every right to put him under my normally OC "Behind the Character" list, since I really was starting from scratch.

Design-wise, he was based off of one of the silhouettes that appeared over Garp's head when he talked about the Yonko. I originally had him slated to look like the stranger-looking one (with the beak-like nose and large hair with a _massive_ grin on his face), but after the introduction of Big Mom as one of the Yonko, I changed his design to the more manly-looking Yonko, creating what you just read.

Personality-wise, I really had the freedom to give him whatever I want. The only thing I had to go off of was that he killed all of Moria's crew (and as I put it earlier, Heracle's crew as well), so I went with that angle, making him one of those hateful pirate types, thinking it made him a better foil as somewhat of the main antagonist of the Vespian Isles arc.

His devil fruit I personally enjoyed a lot (probably my second favorite I created), thinking it to be both unique and powerful in its own right. The idea came when I was reading Stephen King's _The Stand_, where a terrible virus (known as "Captain Trips") kills off 99% of the human population. Fascinated with biological warfare after that, I went to work on this idea, tweaking it to suit more of a battle purpose.

The one regret about his fruit that I had, however, was that it was a little hard to portray it in a fight, as most of his attacks are on a microscopic scale, but I did my best, incorporating Magellan's Venom-Venom Fruit-type defense and attacks to make the fighting against Shanks and Rayleigh seem more animated.

Other than that, I have no particularly special attachment to this character, probably because I didn't build him _completely_ from scratch, but I still enjoyed writing about him, and I feel he served his purpose as an appropriate antagonist to the Straw Hat Crew while on the Vespian Isles.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	63. Horror at the Hydrox Isle

It probably wasn't the best idea to leave Luffy without directions...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**63: Horror at the Hydrox Isle**

Luffy was just running blindly now.

Rayleigh had led him into the right direction, but Luffy's sense of direction was almost as bad as Zoro's (though not quite as bad), so no doubt he would find a way to obscure the directions and get lost, especially in the vast forest he was in.

His infections incurred by Kaido were completely healed now, thanks to Rayleigh's vaccine (which at this point he began to question how he got it, but he pushed it out of his mind), and he was almost feeling as fit as he ever had been, getting ready to go on the Hydrox Isle and kick Victor's ass once and for all.

He'd been running for what seemed like forever, though, and his breath was finally starting to get ragged. He finally stopped himself and surveyed his surroundings. He looked at all of his sides only to find what he had seen for what seemed like forever know.

Trees and more trees.

He let himself catch his breath, before finally saying to himself, "Damn, I thought for the northeast, I would find out what's the coldest direction, and then go a little bit into the direction that seemed to remind me most of home, but I guess I was a little off…"

After a few seconds, he concluded to keep going. After making sure his signature straw hat was securely on his head, he knocked his two fists together and yelled loudly, "I'M COMIN' FOR YOU VICTOR! WATCH OUT!"

Then, he took off in a random direction throughout the trees and woodlands, hoping it was the fastest way to the Hydrox Isle.

He had no idea just how lucky he was...

— — —

"Well, whaddya know, we go off lookin' for Luffy, and this is who we find instead."

Sanji gave a small kick to Zoro's unconscious form.

Hancock looked down at Zoro and said, "I never cared for him much anyway. If he's dead, I'd say it was no great loss."

"Well, unfortunately for all of us," Sanji said, kneeling down so he could be more on Zoro's level, "this guy is not easy to kill, and I doubt he'd die from wounds such as these."

Both of them looked and saw the unconscious Shiryu on the floor, not but a few feet away from him. "Looks like he got it just as bad," Sanji said, putting out his cigarette.

Then, Zoro began to stir. He made a few groaning noises and looked up to see the face of Sanji only a few inches away from him, causing him to shudder and attempt to move with a startled yelp.

"What the hell are you doing here, Cook?" he finally managed to say, after getting not even an inch away due to the pain.

Sanji withdrew in disgust and said, "I wish I wasn't here, trust me Marimo. We were lookin' for Luffy, and we just happened to come across you and your sorry ass; that's all."

"Can we hurry along?" asked the impatient Hancock.

Sanji lit a new cigarette and said, "Alright, alright; looks like you're comin' with us, Marimo. Come on and get up."

Zoro attempted to move, but found that it was hard to do so. Despite the obviously futile struggle, he continued, his face showing the strain of performing such a simple task. After a few seconds, Sanji sighed and helped him up, supporting him by putting Zoro's arm around his neck.

"I don't need your help, Cook!" Zoro said to save face.

"Shut up," replied Sanji humorlessly. "We gotta do what's good for the team, right?"

After a few seconds, Zoro took a few shaky steps, and after taking a deep breath, he was back on his feet and able to move again.

Both men looked to see that Hancock was already leaving, and Sanji immediately gave chase. Zoro tried his best to keep up, and surprisingly, after a few more steps and getting off to a trot, he found that he was able to keep up, although he did run out of breath easier and did tend to fall behind, but still remained in the same general area.

— — —

"Welcome," Victor said to Julia, Ridge, and their own special strike team of rebels. "Like what you see?"

"The hell is this?" Julia demanded, taking in the site of the Corps of Kings and Wolf with Poseidon behind them. "Who are you, and where is Kaido?"

Vendrix chuckled at this and said, "Looks like you missed an important memo!"

Victor ignored him and happily answered. "My name is Victor, an acquaintance of Mr. Kaido. I regret to inform you that he is out right now. Don't worry though. I think you'll find that we're far more interesting than him."

Ridge analyzed the situation and quickly scribbled on his notepad, ripping off the page and showing it to everyone in his sight. It said: "Be ready to run at the first sight of trouble. We didn't expect so many to be here…"

"Can we take care of them now?" asked an anxious Kaede. "I've been thirsting for action for a while now!"

"Not quite, hold yourself," Victor replied, still wanting to talk to the group. "From the looks of it, you look dressed to kill…and you want to know where Kaido is."

Realization hit him in an over-exaggerated manner. Victor hit his fist into the palm of his other hand to show the understanding.

"You must be the famous leaders of the rebellion I've been hearing about from Kaido," he said with a smile. He looked at Ridge and said, "From the looks of it, you're the leader, so I'm gonna guess that you're Ridge. Am I correct?"

He remained silent.

Victor gave a small chuckle and said, "Forgive me. I forgot that you're a deaf-mute. That Kaido seemed to let all of it slip in a short amount of time since you started this chaos. It's amazing what you learn if you just open your ears a bit. Don't you agree?"

They remained silent. Ridge looked at Julia, telling her through his look that flight might be the best move.

Victor seemed to sense this and said, "Running would be such a buzz-kill, don't you agree? Why not stick around. I'm sure you'll make lovely hostages for the Straw Hats when they inevitably get here…And besides, you get to see Operation Rolling Thunder firsthand."

Suddenly, Aliyyah, Benjamin, and Daron were all behind the group. Ridge sighed as he knew they had been captured and knew they would have to fight their way out.

There was a large amount of cheering right behind them. They all looked to see all of the Corps cheering that they finally attached Poseidon onto Wolf's back and secured it. Victor grinned at this and said, "It's about damned time…"

Not a few seconds later, several gunshots rang out, and a few Corps members fell to the floor. The Corps of Kings looked and saw a large group of marines advancing towards all of them with their weapons raised. Victor seemed to curse at this sight as he saw who was leading the group.

"Just like Garp to never quit…" he said, and then he signaled to Aliyyah, Benjamin, and Daron to bring the rebels with them.

The rebels were led with the rest of the group to approach Garp at the head of a whole battalion of marines. Victor didn't look too alarmed by this, as he looked at Garp and remarked light-heartedly, "Long time no see old friend."

Garp kept his ground and said, "I'm no friend of yours, and I'm putting an end to your whole insurrection here."

He looked up to see Wolf standing there, looking dumbfounded with Poseidon on his back. "So you finally did it, huh?" he asked. "Well too bad I'm not gonna let you use this ancient weapon that is better off dead; I've come prepared."

He held up a small pack he had in his pocket and finished, "I put this in your ship's main power source, and the whole thing blows sky high."

"Such a shame it had to end this way, Garp," Victor said, shaking his head in disappointment. "But I'm afraid you're going to have to die now."

Suddenly, Garp was right in front of Victor, and, without warning, delivered a massive punch to the side of his face, sending the surprised Victor flying to the ground several feet away.

Not a second after, Garp said to the marines, "Attack! Don't let any of them escape!"

The marines cheered as they rushed into battle, swords drawn and weapons firing. The Zoan, Blade, and Power Corps immediately leapt into action to face the marine. At this point, Ridge looked at Julia with a smile and nodded.

Julia looked to the rebels and yelled, "Help the marines out! Clear a pathway to take out the ship!"

The rebels also cheered and seemed to break away from the men holding them captive, who replaced Aliyyah, Daron, and Benjamin when the attack started. Julia looked to Ray and ordered, "Go to the border of the isle and lead any rebels to this fight! We need all the help we can get!"

Ray nodded, and, after firing a shot at a Corps member, went off to fulfill the order.

Victor was back on his feet now, wiping the blood from his mouth and looking at Garp, who was standing there and looking back at him. Victor surprisingly smiled and said, "Ah, I seemed to have forgotten that you know Haki. Sure did take me by surprise."

"Get up and face me like a man Victor!" Garp demanded. "We'll finish this once and for all!"

Victor chuckled at this. "Why would _I_ face you, when I have a perfectly good group of men who would do that for me?"

The Corps of Kings seemed to get the message, as they all went to surround Garp. Surprisingly, the old former-marine sped past all of them and went straight for Victor again, cocking a fist back with his Haki prepared. Before he could hit, however, Victor disappeared and appeared over him.

He landed a good few yards away from him and taunted: "You're so impatient. Don't you know you can't take the King without going through all of his Knights first?"

Daron suddenly made a move towards Garp and threw a quick fist towards him. Garp was able to side-step it quickly and grabbed his outstretched arm, throwing him to the ground. Then, Benjamin went for him, throwing a quick Shigan, which Garp was able to dodge and give him a quick smash to his stomach, which, despite his Tekkai, still hurt.

More Corps of Kings members would have attacked, but a few bullets flew past them, and they all looked to see Ridge, Julia, and their rebels aiming their weapons at them.

"Fire!" Julia commanded.

Another volley of rounds were fired, but they were all surprisingly blocked when both Kenji and Kaede appeared and used their Zoan powers to transform their arms and block the bullets, leaving them unharmed.

"Oh my, what a pain, don't you think brother?" Kenji asked light-heartedly.

"I'd say it's about damned time for some action!" Kaede replied. "Let's show 'em a real taste of fear!"

Then, they both suddenly began to transform into their Zoan powers. A few members of the Zoan Corps saw this and said, "It's happening! The Captain and Lieutenant are showing off their powers!"

Kenji suddenly grew to gargantuan proportions, growing tusks and a large appendage-like nose. He got on all fours as his arms grew massive and barrel-like, while a large amount of brown fur appeared all over his body. When it was all said and done, Kenji resembled a full-grown mastodon.

"The Ancient Elephant-Elephant Fruit: Mastodon Model!" some Zoan Corps members yelled.

Kaede also transformed, but his was a little different. He also got on all fours, yet while he grew, his skin became red and cracked. His arms and legs turned into paws with sharp-looking claws while his teeth grew razor sharp. He continued to grow in size, and what surprised the group the most, was that two heads sprouted out of Kaede's shoulders, giving him three heads in all. Heads that resembled that of dogs.

"There he goes!" the members continued to cheer. "The Mythical Mutt-Mutt Fruit: Cerberus Model!"

Both brothers appeared in front of all of the rebels with a large amount of menace to them, looking at their enemies with complete contempt.

"So we finally get to see Kaede the Cerberus and Kenji the Mastodon in action, eh?" asked a chuckling Vendrix.

The rebels prepared themselves as best they could, yet as the two brothers charged, they had a look of uncertainty on their face…

— — —

Victor saw Garp fending off from the Corps of Kings, Kaede and Kenji taking on Ridge and his rebels, and the Zoan, Blade, and Power Corps all fighting off the marines, and during all of this, he had a massive smile on his face.

He was perfectly content in not interfering in the battle, knowing it would end with an inevitable victory. Besides this, he knew he had to lead Wolf out to the ocean so he could activate Poseidon and sink all of the Vespian Isles, ending in his ultimate victory. He was about to motion for Wolf to move, when he heard that familiar voice again.

_"VICTOOOOOOOOOOR!"_

He looked to see Luffy flying towards him, his rubber arms giving him the momentum to do so. He sighed and quickly leapt out of the way, leaving Luffy to land on the ground and quickly roll and get back up again, throwing a quick Gum-Gum Pistol at him, which he aptly let go through his Logia body.

"You sure don't give up, do you?" he asked Luffy with a grin. "Can't you see it's futile?"

"I'm gonna kick your ass for sure this time!" Luffy said with a grin, pulling both his arms back. "Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

Victor disappeared and reappeared several feet behind the Straw Hat Captain. He quickly signaled to the standing San Juan Wolf and said, "Deal with him please."

Wolf nodded as he quickly brought his massive foot crashing down towards where Luffy was. He thankfully saw the danger and leapt out of the way, throwing a quick Gum-Gum Pistol at his leg, which Wolf didn't seem to mind, as he was seen trying to kick Luffy with his other foot almost immediately.

Luffy took the force of the blow and was sent flying back, before he got up again almost as quickly.

"Damn, it's just like fighting Oars," Luffy said. "It'll take forever to bring this guy down!"

"Enough playing Wolf!" Victor shouted. "Crush him now!"

"Yes sir!" Wolf said, bringing his massive hand down towards Luffy.

Before he could hit Luffy, a circular blue disk flew past him and hit Wolf's fourth finger. It didn't hurt, surprisingly, but when he saw his finger detach and start flying around, it startled him.

"I told you we should land on the Hydrox Isle first, fool," Luffy heard a voice say.

"I suppose you were right," another voice seemed to say reluctantly.

Wolf's finger flew away from the two and stopped right at Trafalgar Law, with Jewelry Bonney and Sir Crocodile on both sides of him.

"Law! Crocodile!" Luffy yelled almost immediately.

"Another distraction…" Victor muttered angrily.

Law smiled as he kept Wolf's finger floating above his head in a kind of morbid show. "Long time, no see, Mr. Straw Hat…"

* * *

The return of old enemies...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	64. Reshuffle

Two Supernovas and a former Shichibukai arrive! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**64: Reshuffle**

Law threw down the Wolf's massive finger behind him without a second thought or care. He simply kept his constant smirk, looking up at Wolf and commenting, "What a large fellow…"

Luffy looked at Law, Bonney, and Crocodile incredulously. "Don't tell me you guys are here for me too!"

Law smirked, saying, "Sorry, no such luck Mr. Straw Hat. The three of us are here for the fellow behind you." He pointed past Luffy.

Luffy looked and then asked skeptically, "Victor?"

"A personal score on behalf of all the Supernovas, as it seems," stated Bonney in a surprisingly unenthusiastic tone.

Victor growled, unhappy that he was unable to capture those three Devil Fruit-users when he had the chance…

Wolf, at this point, however, was quite angered and confused and reacted to his three attackers the only way he knew how…with force. He brought his now four-fingered hand crashing down towards the group, giving a massive grunt of rage.

"Me and Bonney will take care of this guy," Law said to Crocodile, who stood there with what seemed like not a care in the world.

He puffed on his cigar and said, "Alright."

With that, he used the power of the Sand-Sand Fruit to disappear from the two Supernovas. Right before Wolf's hand came crashing down, Law tilted his hat down slightly and said calmly, "Room."

A large half-sphere appeared around Law and Bonney and right when Wolf's remaining hand entered it, Law quickly took off the remaining fingers, save for his thumb. Wolf, frightened at this, quickly pulled his hand back as Law picked up his three fallen fingers and threw them towards Wolf's feet, still unattached.

Victor realized the threat and said, "Watch out for the one with the hat, Wolf! Try to get away; Poseidon on your back is too precious to get damaged!"

It was then that the entire group truly looked at the awe-inspiring spectacle that was known as Poseidon. On the outside it looked like any galleon, albeit it was the biggest they have ever seen. It looked to have several levels, and each level had a large row of cannons. There was a truly massive main mast, but there were at least three others scattered evenly in front and behind it. The strangest thing about the ship, however, was that unlike most ships that curved off at the bottom, this one looked to originally have that, yet there was a strange attachment to it that made the entire bottom look like a square instead of being rounded.

When seeing that Wolf was too enraged to leave the two offenders alive, Victor finally muttered, "Damn, that fool doesn't know the meaning of retreat. It's too dangerous to risk, so I guess I'll have to take care of them myself!"

He went to move towards the two Supernovas, but just then, Luffy came running towards him, stretching his fist back. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

The blow went straight for Victor's head, but he quickly used his Glint-Glint Powers to transform into light, letting the blow go right through him. He then shot a light beam towards Luffy, but he quickly dodged out of the way and threw a stretching foot towards Victor, but he simply let it pass through his now magma body.

Victor stared angrily at the boy he considered an annoyance, as Luffy simply smiled at him and said, "It's time for our rematch Victor! And this time, I'm ready for you!"

Knowing he couldn't let the tenacious boy alone (lest he screw his plans up further), he resolved to finish him off quickly. He turned to some of his men who were free from battle and looked at Law and Bonney.

"Take care of them!"

They nodded as they rushed at the two Supernovas, ready to kill. They both sensed this as Law said, "Bepo, Jean Bart!"

"Aye, Captain!"

Both Heart Pirates suddenly appeared and engaged the force directly, both not holding back. Bonney also commanded her pirates to help where necessary, as she and Law looked at the still-angered Wolf.

"Just one touch, and he'll be too old to do anything," Bonney said, pounding her fists together. "Just get an opening from him and we'll be golden!"

Law smiled as he drew his sword with one hand and used the other to create a blue disk. "Don't worry about me," he shot back. "Just be sure that _you're_ ready!"

— — —

Monkey D. Garp was still going, regardless of being greatly outnumbered by several members from the Corps of Kings. He threw a quick punch to Daron, but he grabbed his fist and delivered a quick elbow to his chest, causing him to spit out blood and saliva. Garp quickly got free and delivered a smashing blow to Daron's exposed ribs, but it didn't appear to do anything, as he got up just as quickly.

_"That boy recovers too quickly for my liking…" _Garp thought to himself.

Vendrix then appeared behind Garp, his bone-bladed knife in one hand, a malicious smile on his face. "Remember me Old Man?" he asked. "Time to pay you back!"

Before his knife hit Garp's exposed back, a gold hook appeared between the two and blocked the blow. Vendrix looked confused as he saw Crocodile now there, his trademark cigar in his scowling mouth.

Vendrix sighed and said depressingly, "Another freak? This is starting to get to be rather annoying…"

"Crocodile!" Garp said with surprise. "Why the hell are you helping me out?"

Crocodile blew smoke into Vendrix's face and replied, "My problem's not with the Marines right now, but with the guy this fucker's working for."

Vendrix seemed to disappear inside himself mentally for a second, before he said to himself, "It would be a shame to kill him…I think we should carve him up instead…Yes, yes that sounds like a much more sensible idea!"

Vendrix then withdrew and leapt away, throwing a handmade grenade towards the offender, which he quickly turned into sand to avoid. He then reappeared in front of Vendrix, holding out his hand to try and dry him up, but before that, a large blast of water completely drenched his arm.

He looked to see Aliyyah standing there, a smile on her face with her arm outstretched. "Don't make the mistake of thinking there's only one of us," she said, prompting Crocodile to scowl, and rethink his battle strategy.

— — —

Kaede and Kenji were running havoc amongst the rebels, simply plowing many of them aside and even when being shot, they quickly recovered.

Thankfully, there were more than just thirty rebels with Ridge and Julia, as Ray did his job and led the joining rebels to the fray, bolstering their numbers every minute. With the new help, they kept firing bullets into both creatures' skin, hoping to slow them down.

Unfortunately, Kenji's mastodon hide was thick and provided a large amount of protection, and Kaede's cracked Cerberus magma skin seemed to help him exponentially in terms of defense.

Kenji jerked his head to one side, sweeping many rebels off of their feet with his tusks and trunk, sending them to the floor. He continued to stampede and trample the more unfortunate ones. Kaede, on the other hand, was much more brutal, ripping rebels open with his sharp claws and devouring them with his three heads.

Julia cursed and fired another shot at Kaede, finding it doing nothing as usual. "Damn it, this isn't working, and using swords against those two monsters is suicide!"

Ridge fired a quick shot and then just as quickly, jotted something down on his notepad and threw it to Julia. It simply said: "Take the rebels and run…I'll hold them off."

She looked at Ridge and said angrily, "Like hell I'd do that to you! We're in this together, and we're gonna stay together!"

As soon as Julia turned her head, Kaede appeared in front of her in his full Cerberus form, his main head snarling and reaching up his massive paw to slash her. Ridge saw this and quickly sprinted towards his wife, knocking her to the ground, getting a massive raking slash across his entire back. He made a face of pain, before he and Julia rolled out of the way of Kaede's smashing paw.

They both quickly got up as Julia looked at Ridge with a concerned face. She touched his back lightly and saw him wince. She knew he would have to get help, but with their men dying all around them, they had to keep going.

"Buck up," she said to him with a loving face. "I know it hurts, but we gotta get through it for now."

Ridge nodded and took out a pistol, firing at Kenji.

Both he and Kaede looked at the couple, and, after looking at each other for a second, started trampling towards the two.

"Thunderbolt Tempo!"

Suddenly, a large amount of thunder came crashing down from the sky, hitting the two brothers. They both shrieked and when it passed, turned to their human form again.

"The fuck was that?" Kaede demanded.

Kenji shrugged, as they both looked behind Ridge and Julia and saw two women standing there.

"So it's you, eh?" asked a smiling Kaede.

Nami and Robin stood there boldly, as Nami grew a large grin and said, "Why don't you pick on someone who can actually fight you?"

Kenji laughed at this and said, "She got you there Kaede!"

Suddenly, enraged, Kaede ran towards them, turning his arms into that of the Cerberus. Robin closed her eyes and said, "Ocho Fleur!"

Arms suddenly sprouted on Kaede's body and stayed there, holding him from under his chin.

"Just stay there and be quiet for a second," Robin said calmly.

"Hmph, try this!" Kaede shot back.

Suddenly, from his right shoulder, a vicious looking dog head appeared and bit down on Robin's arm, causing her to flinch and let Kaede go.

Kaede laughed and said, "When you go against Kaede the Cerberus and Kenji the Mastodon, you'd better have brought some fuckin' artillery with you!"

— — —

Benjamin McAllister was leading some of the Corps members (specifically the Blade Corps) into battle against the marines. It was clear the fools needed some kind of leader, and he happily filled in that space.

The battle was going well, and it looked as if the Corps were getting the upper hand. Benjamin smiled and yelled orders. "Flank them at the right, partners! Come on, we almost got them now!"

Then, there was a large amount of screaming as Benjamin saw some Corps members fly into the air with a look of pain on their face before they painfully hit the ground again. Benjamin took a closer look and saw three figures standing there. Two men and one woman.

Before he could do anything, one man took out three swords and sprinted towards Benjamin, saying, "Oni Giri!"

Benjamin reacted quickly, bringing up his nodachi to parry the blow. He looked to see Roronoa Zoro's face, staring at Benjamin's with a grim determination.

"Oh, it's you, is it partner?" he asked rather calmly.

Zoro leapt away and said, "I've been waiting to see you for a while! It's time we settled this once and for all!"

"Hurry up will you, Marimo?" he heard Sanji yell, as he and Hancock knocked another few men out.

"Don't mind the idiots," Zoro said. "For now, it's just you and me."

"You're lookin' pretty injured there, partner. You sure you're okay?"

This time, Zoro was the one who sounded calm. "Don't worry about me…"

With that, they clashed blades again.

— — —

Brook and Usopp had appeared in the right place at the right time. Or, if Usopp had anything to say about it, it would be that they appeared at the worst possible time.

They showed up at the Hydrox Isle like Usopp had promised Luffy, but even Usopp didn't think it would be like this. Massive battles were being fought all over, and he didn't want a part in any one of them.

"Come on, Usopp!" Brook said with a laugh, drawing his sword. "Let us help out these valiant souls!"

"Wait Brook!" pleaded Usopp. "I think we should—"

Brook grabbed his arm and said, "And we're off! Come on, Usopp!"

As luck would have it, they landed right by where what looked to be some rebels were fighting. They looked to see an average-sized bald man in front of them, helping out where he could.

Without warning, the man looked around and revealed himself to be Tobias. He observed the two and said, "You're Usopp and Brook, I assume."

"What?" Usopp asked nervously, shaking his hands. "Of course not. Where would you get that—"

"Of course we are!" Brook said boldly. "Who are you, brave sir?"

Then, silently, Tobias dreamed up a fancy-looking spear and shoved it towards Brook, who quickly dodged to get out of the way. "What the hell?" he demanded.

"Sorry," Tobias said, "but you're gonna have to disappear!"

Usopp raised his Kabuto and was about to fire a shot, when suddenly Kaede and Kenji came flying and landed in-between the fighters.

Kaede sat up and said to his brother, "Damn, that blast of air sure didn't feel like much, but it certainly sent us flying!"

Kenji shrugged. "Could've been worse."

Then, Robin, Nami, Ridge, Julia, and a large amount of rebels appeared, all their weapons ready.

"Nami! Robin!" Usopp yelled ecstatically.

Brook looked and said, "You're a sight for sore eyes…Oh wait, I have no eyes. Yohoho!"

Tobias simply looked at Kenji and Kaede solemnly, saying, "I suggest you two stop screwing around and eliminate our enemies, lest you want Victor's wrath upon you."

They both got the picture, as Kaede said, "Let's do it, brother!"

"Right behind you!"

They both then transformed into a Cerberus and mastodon, surprising both Brook and Usopp, who scrambled towards Robin, Nami, Ridge, and Julia.

"How do we beat those two?" demanded Usopp, readying Kabuto in self-defense.

"There's only one way to beat beasts like this," Robin said.

"We gotta slowly wear 'em down," finished Julia.

Ridge nodded.

Then, before the two brothers could attack, a massive shot was fired and landed between them, setting off a large explosion. They all looked to see a massive machine rolling towards the fray, two men on top.

The item revealed itself to be a rudimentary-looking tank, complete with armored plating and a large barrel to shoot explosives from. On the side, the word scrawled on the side said: _Obliterator_.

The two men on top revealed themselves to be none other than Beau Daewn and Franky, with Taroimo barking excitedly on his shoulder.

"What is that?" Nami questioned.

Julia smiled and said, "Just Beau's little pet project." She then looked at him and yelled, "You're late!"

Beau took a swig of alcohol from a bottle he was holding and smiled, shooting back to them, "Looks to me like I'm right on time!"

"The enemy just keeps coming, like cockroaches," Tobias said. He looked at Kaede and Kenji and finished, "Destroy them all."

* * *

Pure chaos!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	65. Reshuffle 2: The Towering Titan

After the Helmont fiasco...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**65: Reshuffle 2- The Towering Titan**

Unbeknownst to those already involved in the fray and while Zoro was busy fighting with Benjamin, Commodore White Chase Smoker, Captain Hina, and Ensign Tashigi appeared on the battle.

They barely made it out of William's attack alive, but when they did finally group together again, they headed straight for the Hydrox Isle to meet back up with Garp and to lead the marines against Kaido and Victor's forces. When they did arrive, the first thing they noticed was San Juan Wolf fighting against Law and Bonney, but that didn't concern them as much as the massive ship strapped on Wolf's back.

"What the hell do you think that is?" asked Hina.

Smoker took a puff on his cigar and replied, "I really don't know, but if Kaido or Victor's gonna use that, then our first priority is to stop it."

They quickly sped past all of the rebels fighting and when they got to the marines fighting, Smoker immediately leapt into action, getting in the middle of the remaining battalion and instilling order back among the ranks.

"Push back and repel!" he immediately shouted. "Don't let them take our left side, or we're as good as dead! Gather up with the counteroffensive now, or they're gonna overwhelm us!"

The marines secretly breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to have a leader back in command again, while the Corps in contrast, saw that Benjamin was busy with Zoro and knew they had no leader whatsoever.

Not that that deterred Smoker from doing his duty. And right now his duty was clear: fight off the Corps members and then secure that massive battleship.

He saw that Law and Bonney—two very well-known pirates—were fighting against Wolf. He decided to let them duke it out until a winner was had, while he focused right now on getting his men back on the winning side.

Smoker smiled. And if they happened to kill each other off…well that just made his job _that_ much easier.

— — —

Despite his rather lackluster look, Colossal Battleship San Juan Wolf wasn't stupid and rather adept when it came to fighting. Indeed, without his skills in combat, it would be impossible for him to attain Level 6 status in Impel Down.

Wolf paid a heavy price, losing all of his fingers (save for his thumb) on his left hand, yet with this price he learned a valuable lesson and gained important information about Law's Split-Split Fruit powers. He could tell almost immediately when he entered Law's "room" and knew how big it generally was, and with Law always at the epicenter, he knew where the room would be next.

Wolf drew a smile as he quickly brought a foot crashing down by the two. It landed just outside of Law's "room," yet the debris was still sent flying towards them, causing Law and Bonney to scatter from each other. Wolf smiled as he had successfully separated them, and decided to go for Bonney, as he didn't want to mess with Law's power too much.

Bonney saw Wolf's eyes fall on her, and she immediately knew what he was planning. She used her agile speed to run towards Wolf, holding out one of her hands. All she needed to do was to touch him once, and this battle would be over.

Unfortunately for her, she was not subtle in her movements, and Wolf saw that she was coming for him. Not wanting to risk any more damage, Wolf went with the assumption that Bonney also had a devil fruit power and resolved for her not to touch him.

While Bonney was still running, Wolf smiled and rose up his fist high in the air. "You shouldn't underestimate da power of San Juan Wolf!" he sneered, before bringing it down towards her with a crash.

Bonney gave a quick shriek before stopping dead in her tracks and moving to the side, just in time for his fist to collide into the ground and crack the very earth itself, causing a massive rumbling. Bonney quickly recovered and wiped the sweat off her face, knowing she avoided a deathblow.

Law felt the rumbling, and, using his free hand, created a circular blue disk. He quickly aimed it at Wolf, and right before he threw it, he saw Wolf's head turn to look at him.

"Don't think I forgot about you," he said with a grin, raising his foot up and bringing it down towards Law (but still outside of his "room" radius), creating more cracks and throwing Law off-balance.

A little flustered, he threw the disk anyways, yelling, "Split Throw!"

Wolf saw this coming far in advanced and despite his large body, was able to nimbly avoid the disk, letting it fly off into the air. The earth then gave way under Law and he went tumbling to the floor, rolling several times before stopping.

Before Wolf could stomp Law flat, he quickly used his nodachi to get stable and get up in time to jump to the side. Right as Wolf's foot landed, Law used his sword to slash at his leg, causing Wolf to grunt in pain before swiping the back of his hand suddenly towards Law, who took the blow full-force and was sent flying.

Wolf looked at his hand and grimaced, seeing a stab-mark in the middle of his hand that drew blood. "Used his sword as a defense at the last minute…tricky bastard…"

Bonney immediately ran over to the fallen Law to see him lying on the floor with his eyes closed. Thinking fast, she raised her hand up real fast and slapped Law right across his face, yelling, "Wake up!"

Law got the message as his eyes immediately shot open and he sat up, rubbing his face. He was about to comment but he saw Wolf coming up behind Bonney and quickly pushed her out of the way, creating another blue disk and throwing it towards Wolf.

The giant was barely able to avoid it, but it gave Law and Bonney enough time to escape his view for a few seconds.

"We have to come up with a solid plan," Law rasped through his breaths. "He's smarter than we gave him credit for."

Bonney nodded. "What would you suggest?"

"I have an idea…" he said, sheathing his nodachi…

Wolf suddenly saw both Law and Bonney appear in front of him, both looking defiantly at him while Law had two blue disks in each of his hands. Wolf suspected they had a plan and went to move cautiously, not wanting to risk Poseidon on his back or any more of his body parts for that matter.

Then, quite suddenly, Law ran sprinted towards Wolf, who went to strike at Law with his foot, but before he brought it down, he remembered Law's "Room" and thought differently. Wolf knew he would have to catch him off-guard in order to strike him again, and with him heading straight at him, he knew he was prepared for a counterattack.

Then, another voice entered his head; a voice that reminded him more of his old self.

_"Fuck the consequences, just crush the bastard in one fell-swoop!"_ the voice said to him.

Wolf seemed to nod in agreement with this and brought his foot up quickly, hoping to crush him with fast and with efficiency so he wouldn't have time to cut off his leg with his devil fruit power.

Wolf hesitated for too long, however, and Law used this opportunity to create a "room" that was twice the size of the normal one. Wolf wasn't expecting this, and as soon as his foot came into reach with the room, Law used the opportunity to separate his foot from Wolf's body, causing him to lose his balance and begin to fall to the ground face-first.

Law quickly moved away, the two disks still in his hand, as Wolf fell. Unfortunately for the Supernovas, though, Wolf was able to bring his two hands down onto the ground and save himself from falling flat on his chest, instead holding himself up weakly, his body only a few feet away from the ground.

He looked at Law, who threw his detached foot to the ground and said, "It'll take more than that to stop me, little man!"

Law simply smirked and held out both disks, saying, "I think we already beat you though, Mr. Giant…"

Wolf didn't know what he meant until he suddenly felt all of his strength nearly drain from his body. He felt as if he had aged seventy years in one second, and one look at his old and decrepit arms that were pitifully trying to hold him and Poseidon up seemed to reinforce his story; San Juan Wolf was now an old man.

He simply looked at Bonney and Law, asking with weak words, "How…"

That was when he saw that Bonney revealed her arms and showed that she had no hands attached to them. Law used that moment to have Bonney's hands float past his head, as if they were acting on their own.

"We decided to use our two powers in conjunction," Bonney said with a laugh.

Law kept at his smirk and continued, "Distracting you with that little show, you didn't even realize that before I confronted you I had separated Bonney's hands and set them up to touch you when you least expect it. The power of the Age-Age Fruit has drained most of the strength right out of you, Mr. Giant."

Wolf gave a massive sigh as his shaky arms began to weaken. He knew he couldn't hold up Poseidon on his back anymore, but when he tried to shake it off, he realized that it was chained to his body. Letting out a massive cry, his arms buckled underneath him and he fell face-down onto the ground, Poseidon adding impact to his spine, knocking him out almost immedaitely.

The Corps members, however, did a good job in securing Poseidon, as it now simply stood there on Wolf's unmoving back, ready for anyone to get onboard.

— — —

Beau's tank _Obliterator_ fired a quick cannon shot towards Kaede the Cerberus, forcing him to veer off to the side. Beau let out a small laugh as he took another swig of alcohol, taking pride in that he forced the Cerberus to dodge in fear of his own attack.

Kenji the Mastodon, however, moved in from the side, ready to knock the _Obliterator_ onto its side. Franky saw this coming and looked at the old man. "I'll take care of this. Just take care of the machine Old Man. I didn't help you fix it up for nothin'!"

Beau laughed and said, "Yeah, yeah, go on!"

Franky nodded and leapt into the air, aiming his right arm towards Kenji. He cocked his right fist back and threw it forward, yelling, "Strong Right!"

His right fist extended in a chain and flew straight for the surprised Kenji, hitting him right in his face. It packed enough punch to stop him, but he applied enough force back to send Franky back to the ground, where Taroimo landed next to him, barking in a concerned manner.

Franky could hear Beau taunt Kaede and fire another shot, landing right by the three-headed dog. Snarling, Kaede rushed towards him and ripped at the side of the tank, only to find that his claws only dented it.

"Sorry," Beau said in a light tone. "It'll take more than that to damage this baby!"

He fired another shot, this one hitting the left head of the Cerberus, causing him to recoil.

Franky couldn't pay attention anymore, as Kenji realized his enemy and transformed into his human form again. Then, without giving Franky a word, he immedaitely went into hybrid form, giving him massive mastodon-length arms and legs, a pair of fearsome-looking tusks, and a large trunk to match.

"Pretty strange lookin', aren't we?" asked Franky light-heartedly.

Kenji didn't respond as he simply rushed at Franky, his massive mastodon-like feet causing the ground to rumble each time they struck. Before he could get close to Franky, he heard someone say, "Ocho Fleur!"

Eight arms then sprouted on the surprised Kenji, and before he could react, Robin appeared and said, "Flip!"

Robin was able to successfully use the eight arms to flip Kenji and have his head hit the ground. Franky looked to see Robin, Nami, Brook, Usopp, Ridge, and Julia standing there, their weapons ready.

"What are you guys…" he started.

"We don't have a lot of time," Nami said, cutting him off. "Right now, we need you to go with Ridge and Julia over towards that massive ship."

"Why?"

"Back at Skypiea," Robin explained, "I read that Poseidon was buried here. I didn't want to think it was possible for it to be resurrected, but apparently someone else knew too evidenced by the fact that it's right there!"

She pointed to the fallen Poseidon, which Franky hadn't seemed to notice until now.

"Shit, that thing's massive!" he commented.

They all nodded. "And it looks like Victor and Kaido are trying to use it for their own gain, which we can't have happen; that ship has the power to sink islands with massive tidal waves, and I'm willing to bet that they're gonna test its destructive power on the Vespian Isles first," Robin said.

"It seemed to have fallen now," Nami continued, "and it looks like the marines and some of Victor's men are scrambling to get onto it to secure it, but we don't want to secure it; we want to disable it."

"You've seen the blueprints for the Pluton back at Water 7," added Usopp. "And Ridge and Julia need to get back to lead the rebels so they can create an opening for you and them to get onto the ship."

Franky nodded at this, as Taroimo at his side seemed to bark in agreement. "Alright, leave it to me. I'll help you guys out with Poseidon."

Kenji at this point was now back on his feet, having gotten rid of Robin's arms. Nami raised her Perfect Clima-Tact and said, "Go on, we'll take care of him for you!"

Franky nodded as he looked at Ridge and Julia. "Let's go!"

They nodded, as Franky, Taroimo, Ridge, and Julia took off towards the massive behemoth that was known as Poseidon, in hopes of disabling it from use.

Franky, however, knew the truth about the ship, but decided it would be best to keep the information to himself.

At least for now…

* * *

Plan to destroy the Poseidon!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	66. Reshuffle 3: Fueled for the Fight

To the former Hero of the Marines...Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**66: Reshuffle 3- Fueled for the Fight**

Monkey D. Garp struck Daron Arkan the Marauder straight into his ribs, sending him crashing to the ground. Almost immediately after that, however, he rose and cracked his neck with a smile, not agitated by the wound at all.

By this point, Garp was tired of knocking the "youngster" around, and was beginning to get ragged breath at this point. He knew by this point that there was something different about Daron that made him so quick to take all of those blows and get up almost immediately. Garp had been around long enough to know what was doing it, too.

"That's some devil fruit you ate there, kiddo," he said behind a ragged smile.

Daron yawned unenthusiastically and said, "So you figured it out? I partook in the Mend-Mend Fruit, and thanks to it, almost all of my superficial wounds heal immediately

_(Daron used his thumb to wipe the blood from the slash Zoro gave him to his cheek, revealing it to be completely uninjured)_

yet despite that, it still hurts every time I get injured…Oh well, just an unavoidable side-effect I bet."

Garp sighed and scratched his head. "A devil fruit that heals all of your wounds, eh? Now that sounds like a real pain to fight…"

It was at that point, that Franky (with Taroimo riding on his shoulder, of course), Ridge, and Julia showed up at their fight. Franky recognized Garp immediately, and Garp did as well.

"Hey, you're that—" Franky started.

"You're Franky aren't you? The apprentice of Tom the ship-maker," Garp cut off. With a large smile, he said, "Just who I needed!"

"Look out!" Franky said, as Daron moved swiftly, cocking his fist back to strike Garp.

To everyone's surprise, Garp deftly dodged the fist and threw a smashing blow to Daron's gut, causing him to spit out blood and send him flying through the air, landing on the ground with a thud.

Paying it no mind, Garp immediately looked at Franky and asked, "You remember the blueprints to Pluton, right?"

"Uh…yeah."

Garp was right in front of Franky now, and with a large smile, put a hand on his shoulder. "Perfect; just the person I needed!" He then explained. "I don't think I need to tell you that that big old thing back there needs to get knocked out of commission, right?"

Garp jerked a thumb back towards the complacent Poseidon; Franky nodded.

Garp rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a small pack, holding it up in front of him. "You know what this is?"

The group shook their head.

Garp smirked at this. "Inside this little pack is a bomb. Don't let its size fool ya though, it packs one helluva punch. Tell me, what do you suppose would happen if this bomb was put right at the Poseidon's main power supply deep within the confines of the ship? It would send the ship straight to splinters, that's what!"

"Why would we want to blow it up?" demanded Julia. "We're going there to disable it, not to destroy it!"

Garp looked at her quizzically. "Oh, I guess you didn't know. Didn't this shipwright right here tell you?"

"Tell us what?" she asked.

Franky sighed and said, "If Poseidon's anything like the Pluton, then there is no real way to disable it; that's just the way it was built. So the only option—once it's resurrected of course—would be to destroy it."

Julia reacted quite angrily to this. "That's insane! Do you know the loss of life that would occur if that thing exploded? It would—"

Ridge put a hand on Julia's shoulder, as if to calm her down, which it did. She looked at him and saw that he had understanding in his eyes.

Then, Garp put the pack in Franky's hand. "I trust you know what to do with this. I would do it myself if I could, but unfortunately, I have some important matters to attend to involving my grandson, so I'll leave it to you."

"Hey, wait—" Franky started.

He stopped himself, however, when he realized that Garp was already sprinting to another spot on the battlefield, leaving Franky to sigh and look at the bomb he was just given. He then effortlessly tossed it towards Ridge, who stumbled a bit, but caught it.

"Hold onto it for me, I'm afraid I'll lose it while we're running or something," he simply said. He then looked towards Poseidon and said, "Come on, let's—"

He was interrupted when Daron was suddenly in front of him, elbowing Franky in the chest. Franky gripped his stomach, while Taroimo leapt off with an angry bark. Daron went for another blow, but Franky quickly dodged and shot a punch towards him.

"Strong Right!"

Thinking fast, Franky connected his two hands together and pointed it straight at Daron. "Eat this, you bastard! 70mm Caliber 1.5 Max Coup de Vent!"

A massive shot of compressed air flew out of his hand and hit Daron straight in his chest, sending his arms and legs flailing while he himself was once again sent flying to the floor.

Franky quickly turned to Ridge and Julia and said, "I'll take care of this guy! You'll have to destroy Poseidon yourself! Luffy trusts you, so I'm going to as well!"

"Don't be stupid!" Julia shot back. "We don't know where to go to find this power source!"

Franky looked at Taroimo, who was looking up at Franky with his tail wagging. He seemed to understand what Franky was saying, and barked in agreement. Franky then turned back to Ridge and Julia.

"Taroimo here has a built-in heat sensor that he uses to see," he explained. "The power source of Poseidon must be massive, so all you have to do is follow him, and he'll lead you right to there!"

Taroimo gave a small happy bark, before Franky added, "Take care of him!"

Daron, at this point, was back up, clutching his stomach, but looked to be getting better with each passing second. He slowly inched towards Franky again.

Ridge saw this and grabbed Julia's arm, looking at Taroimo and seemed to communicate to him without words. Taroimo understood and began to run towards Poseidon, barking all the way, Ridge and Julia Carrison following.

Daron was up and running again, as he threw a punch towards Franky, which he blocked with his arm. Franky quickly responded with a light hit to his ribs, but Daron didn't seem to recoil, simply leap back slightly.

"You really did a number on me with that attack," he said with a lazy grin. "But I'm willing to guess that was your strongest attack."

Franky matched his grin and said, "You'll have to attack again to find out."

Daron took him up on that offer as he rushed towards Franky, both his fists ready to strike the cyborg yet again.

— — —

"You know, I have a favorite personal saying," Victor D. Capere said to Monkey D. Luffy with an ever-present grin. "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I hope you can give that saying some credence and prove to me that you're ready for a rematch."

Luffy matched his smirk and threw his right arm back, launching it straight back at Victor again. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

The fist simply passed through the motionless Victor, as he simply said, "You've shown me that attack before, try something different."

Luffy smiled as he grabbed something solid behind Victor and used it to propel himself forward, holding his other arm out. "Gum-Gum Scythe!"

This attacked proved to be successful enough, as he was able to hit Victor straight at his stomach, but unfortunately, he turned into light to avoid the attack, yet it still sent the top half of his body to the ground, only to be remade almost instantly.

Then, they felt a massive tremor on the ground, and they immediately looked to see what caused it. Victor cursed almost immediately as he saw what he feared the most. An aged San Juan Wolf had collapsed onto the floor with Poseidon still on his back. Then, he noticed that almost immediately, he heard Smoker's voice order the marines to board and secure the ship. Cursing this, he yelled at the top of his lungs so all of his men can hear as well.

_"DON'T LET THE MARINES TAKE THAT SHIP! GET ON THERE AND FIGHT THEM OFF OF IT IF YOU HAVE TO!"_

The Corps members seemed to get the message as they also boarded Poseidon to fight off the marines, setting off yet another fierce battle between them. Victor cursed under his breath some more; his plans going more and more awry.

Luffy smiled at this predicament. "Didn't think I'd be rooting for the marines to win this time."

"Shut up!" Victor immediately said. "It just means I'll have to take care of you all the quicker!"

It was then Victor's turn to attack, as he looked at Luffy and held out his fist towards him, sticking out his pinky and index finger. "Slow-Slow Beam!"

Luffy, however, was expecting this, as he leapt into the air to avoid it, looking down at Victor. "I know that attack inside and out from my battle with Foxy," Luffy said. "You only got me the first time because I didn't expect you to have it, but now I'm prepared!"

He cocked both his fists back and yelled, "Gum-Gum Gatling!"

A flurry of fists flew and hit Victor, but he yet again turned his body to lava to avoid the blow. He aimed his fist up at Luffy and said, "Great Eruption!"

A massive lava fist flew towards Luffy, but he responded quickly by stretching his arm out and grabbing another solid object, sending himself back to the floor again. As soon as he landed, Victor held out his right hand as it turned jet black.

With a smile, he yelled, "Black Vortex!"

Luffy immediately recognized this attack and felt the old rush of gravity pulling him towards Victor at incredibly speeds.

"This is Blackbeard's—" Luffy started, as he flew towards Victor. "—I guess that means you did capture him!"

"Only a fool would let that idiot run free to do what he wishes!" Victor simply replied with a smile.

Luffy surprisingly grinned at this, even as barreled towards Victor. "Too bad I know this fruit and attack pretty well!"

He immediately sent his right arm flying back, and then sent it flying straight towards Victor with impossible speeds. "Gum-Gum Bullet!"

Victor stood powerless as he took the blow straight to his stomach, causing him to immediately stop the Black Vortex attack, but also sent him flying to the floor to land on his back. Luffy kept his smirk as he landed on his feet lightly.

"Finally got you!" he said proudly.

Victor held his stomach as he stood up, blood coming from his mouth from the attack. He simply said, "Congratulations…"

Luffy didn't stop there, however. "And I figured something else about your nameless devil fruit," he stated.

"What would that be?"

Luffy pointed to Victor's stomach where he just hit, and explained, "While your fruit may allow you to have as many devil fruits as you want, the fact remains that you can only actively use one at a time, or else you would have simply turned into another element to avoid that attack."

Victor smiled and clapped his hands slowly for Luffy. "Good job Straw Hat. However, all of that information won't do you any good, as I still have a plethora of attacks to kill you with."

Victor smiled as three hatches seemed to open in the middle of his chest. From them, a miniature cannon per hatch came out, and each fired a shot on their own. Almost immediately, the cannonball grew and flew towards the surprised Luffy, hitting him dead-on.

Victor laughed and said, "The Fort-Fort Fruit can help in a pinch!"

Then, almost immediately after, he raised up his right arm and all around him, all of the metal objects flew towards him surrounding his right arm and forming a massive fist. Luffy coughed as the smoke cleared to see this, giving a small start at the sight.

"You even got Kidd's…"

Victor didn't reply as he cocked his fist back and threw it at Luffy. The Straw Hat Captain quickly responded by blowing heavily into his left thumb, growing it to massive proportions. "Gear Third! Gum-Gum Giant Pistol!"

He then threw the massive fist straight towards Victor's both colliding and sending the metal objects scattering and Luffy flying back, turning into a child while hitting the ground.

Thinking fast, he looked around and saw a sharp knife on the floor. Knowing he needed to defend himself, he picked it up and threw it towards Victor, who stood still and held out his hand.

He caught it and as soon as he touched it, the metal rusted, destroying the knife immediately. "The Rust-Rust Fruit also has its own unique advantages."

"Damn!" Luffy said, returning to normal size yet again.

Victor held his arm out horizontally in front of him, as it turned into a flute. Blowing into it, he sent out sound waves that cut Luffy as soon as they hit him, causing him to back in recoil. Victor turned his hand back to normal, smirking at Luffy.

"The Sound-Sound Fruit is great for long-range attacks as well!"

Luffy's knees buckled slightly as he hit the floor for a second before standing up immediately again. "Now Straw Hat," continued Victor, "it's time to add your devil fruit to my repertoire as well."

Luffy was getting angry at this point, as he punched the ground and smoke emanated from him. "Gear Second!"

"Gear Second, eh?" Victor asked. "Haven't you seen that the move is futile?"

Luffy quickly sped towards the motionless Victor and threw a fist towards him. "Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!"

The blow went straight through Victor, who simply smiled at Luffy. "I'll just wait until you tire yourself out; you can't hit me anyway."

"Gum-Gum Jet Bullet!"

The attack went through Victor yet again, who remained smiling. Luffy leapt back a good distance, anger taking over his entire body. Letting out a massive roar, he rushed towards Victor, throwing his fist straight towards him. "Gum-Gum Jet Rifle!"

Victor's smile immediately disappeared, as he felt his devil fruit powers not activate simply due to Luffy's shout. _"It couldn't be, does he have…" _he thought.

He couldn't get any further as Luffy's attack hit him straight in his chest, sending him flying to the floor, a large amount of blood flying out of him.

Luffy landed, panting, as the smoke disappeared from around him. It took Victor a few seconds before he finally stood up, blood flowing down the side of his face. "Who would have thought," he simply said through his pants, "that you of all people would have Haoshoku Haki…"

Luffy simply stood there, panting and staring at Victor. He smiled again and turned his fist into lava, getting ready to attack. "Ah well, looks like you don't know how to control it yet, so I'll end this quickly!"

Before he could strike, Victor felt himself freeze up, and Garp suddenly appeared on the scene, throwing a massive punch to the side of his head, sending him sprawling to the floor yet again.

He wretched his body up, blood streaming down the side of his head from his new wound, only to see Monkey D. Garp standing there with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.

"Grandpa!" Luffy immediately said, quite surprised at his appearance.

"Always there's a distraction!" Victor immediately barked.

Garp smiled and said, "Don't talk like that Victor. I thought I'd get a warmer greeting from you."

Luffy was immediately at Garp's side, and began to ask, "What are you doing here? How did you—"

Garp held out his arm to silence Luffy. "I'll answer all your questions later. For now, just accept that I'm here, and help me take this guy out once and for all."

Luffy chuckled at this, striking up a fighting stance. "Right!"

Victor's breathing steadied, as he now looked at his new enemy, adapting his strategy accordingly…

* * *

Fighting for the right of Sovereignty!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	67. The Great Rebel Ridge Carrison

The plan: Destroy the Poseidon! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**67: The Great Rebel Ridge Carrison**

In the distance, an explosion went off, sending a few unfortunate men flying through the air and landing on the ground painfully. A little bit further than that, a member of the Zoan Corps used the power of the Tweet-Tweet Fruit: Hawk Model to transform and fly over the battlefield, picking up an unfortunate marine and dropping him from several feet from the air.

Despite most of the fighting now taking place on the massive warship simply known as Poseidon between the marines, rebels, and Corps members, there was still a fair amount of fighting on the ground by the warship as well.

And it was on the ground, a good distance away from Poseidon and, that Ridge stopped both Julia and Taroimo on the spot. Julia looked confused and asked her husband, "What's going on?"

No conflicts were taking place by them currently, so Ridge had the time to take out his notepad and write on it. When finished, he ripped it off and handed it to Julia.

"This is as far as you go," it said. "I need you to stay here and try and round up as many rebels as you can to get them away from the ship."

Julia reacted angrily almost immediately. "Don't fuck around! I'm going with you to Poseidon, and that's final!"

Ridge simply shook his head, as he wrote again, handing it to Julia.

"What kind of man would I be," it started, "if I willingly put the life of my wife in danger?"

Julia saw the first sentence and immediately gave Ridge a massive slap to the side of his face. "Who the hell do you think I am?" she demanded. "I don't need you to take care of me!"

Ridge didn't react to this, as he simply pointed to the page again, as there was more to be done.

"This is by no means an underestimation of your strength; I know how strong-willed you are, but this is more for _my_ own sake. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I know you got hurt. As leader of this rebellion, I feel like I alone have this responsibility, and that's what I plan on doing. What's important now, however, is saving the lives of as many rebels as possible before I do what needs to be done…"

Julia simply stood rooted on the spot, beginning to shake. She looked down and said, "Oh, Ridge…this is too much. This is already over the edge of sanity…"

Surprisingly, Ridge smiled and wrote again, handing it to her. This time, it simply said, "Don't worry about me, I'll be okay," and next to it there was a rudimentary picture of a smiley face.

Julia seemed to give a small laugh at this, and nodded. She looked at Ridge in his eyes and said, "Just be careful, okay?"

Ridge immediately pulled Julia in without warning and gave her a deep, passionate kiss. When finished, he held her for a few seconds before releasing her and signaling to the barking Taroimo as if to move again.

Julia stood awestruck for a second, before finally smiling and saying, "If you don't make it back soon, I'll kick your ass when all of this is done!"

Ridge smiled and gave her a thumbs-up to indicate that everything would be okay. Then, Taroimo started to move again towards Poseidon, and Ridge gave his wife one last look before following the mechanical dog with the bomb securely held in his hand.

Julia only stood there for a second, unsure of what to do, before finally taking out a miniature den-den mushi and speaking into it. "Attention all Captains! I need you all to send out a distress call to all members under your command!"

— — —

Commodore Smoker had seen the Poseidon fall, and after seeing Law and Bonney succeed in their fight, he ordered his marines to go and take the ship and secure it.

This worked well, as the marines followed his orders quickly, but almost immediately after that, Victor ordered his own men to follow them, and all that was accomplished was that the battle was simply moved up from one place to another.

Hina and Tashigi got separated from Smoker a while ago, fighting currently on the ground and trying to capture the stragglers who weren't on Poseidon currently. Smoker himself, however, was about to go onto the ship to help the marines, but right before he could launch himself onto the ship, a large anvil-looking object flew down and tried to crush him.

He simply let it pass through him, but he looked to see who caused such an attack, only to see Tobias the Dreamer standing there, a stern look on his face. He too had slipped away from Kenji and Kaede's fight in order to better lead the Corps members in Victor's place.

Smoker recognized him almost immediately from the tapes he saw of him capturing Kidd, and landed on the ground again, saying, "You're the one that…"

"I'm afraid this is as far as you go," Tobias simply stated, cutting him off. "This ship is needed to usher in a new age, an age without piracy."

Smoker chomped on his two cigars and replied, "It's ironic that we both want to put an end to piracy, yet our methods are so different…"

Tobias kept his same face and said, "The World Government isn't doing enough for this cause, so we've decided to step in and do it for them."

Smoker turned his right arm into smoke and said, "Such a shame it had to be this way…"

He then threw his fist forward, condensing the smoke into a massive fist. "White Blow!"

Tobias didn't move as he simply said, "Dream-Dream Shield."

The same yellow transparent shield appeared in front of Tobias, stopping Smoker's attack entirely. He pulled his fist back and looked past Tobias, only to see Ridge following Taroimo onto Poseidon.

"Hey, isn't he…" Smoker started, but then pushed it out of his mind, deciding to focus on the enemy in front of him.

— — —

Ridge and Taroimo at this point had reached Poseidon.

They had to avoid some battles going on, but for the most part, the fighters were too caught up in what was happening to notice a man and a mechanical dog running past them.

The first thing Ridge noticed was the massive size of the ship, and the size of the aging unconscious giant beneath it. He looked to see that there were a plethora of ladders and ropes that were used by both the marines and Corps members to get onto the ship. Ridge took the barking Taroimo under his arm and started to climb the nearest ladder.

When he finally did get over onto the deck of the ship, what he saw was pure chaos.

The deck itself was large enough to host a large-scale battle, and both fighting sides managed to fill that requirement quite nicely. All around there were men fighting with swords and guns and all manner of weaponry. He saw a few Zoan users tearing through their hapless enemies, and even saw a few men attacking fully-armed marines with only their fists.

Ridge gave Taroimo an uneasy look, as if to say that they needed to move quickly, and Taroimo understood, wagging his tail and giving a large bark. With that, the mechanical dog took off again, weaving throughout the battlefield. Ridge gave a small sigh and followed the leader, knowing he knew where to go.

He was armed only with a pistol, and was only intent on using it if he needed to be. Fortunately, the men fighting were also too distracted to care about this deaf-mute man passing through their battle, and simply were intent on crushing the enemy in front of them.

He quickly followed Taroimo to the inside of the ship, where fighting was still going on, and quickly followed the dog down the stairs. Unfortunately for Ridge, two Corps men noticed him.

One of them was the Zoan user who could transform into a hawk, and he was the one who originally noticed. In his hybrid form, he tapped the man next to him and said, "Check that out, Engar."

The man named Engar threw a quick punch to a marine and knocked him to the ground hard. He looked to see what the Zoan user was looking at, and smiled when he saw Ridge running with Taroimo.

Giving a small chuckle, Engar said, "I see 'em, Viper. That man looks like he's intent on bypassing the battle altogether just to get further down into the ship."

The Zoan user named Viper said, "Whatever it is, it can't be good for this ship. Let's go and follow him quickly before he does something that might fuck up the ship!"

Engar laughed and said, "Right behind ya, buddy!"

With that, the two Corps members took after Ridge, intent on stopping him.

— — —

Ridge followed what seemed to be an endless flight of stairs. He saw how large the ship was, but didn't really know how many flights deep it really was. Ridge figured that the power core—or whatever the fuck it was called—was somewhere deep down on Poseidon, probably on the final floor.

Thankfully, the fighting hadn't gotten this far below, yet, and Ridge breathed a sigh of relief for that. Taroimo kept at his steady pace, but Ridge began to feel his breath run a bit ragged. Staying determined, he continued to follow Taroimo down the seemingly endless flight of stairs.

Unfortunately for Ridge, he couldn't hear the battle cry of Viper and Engar as they followed him every step of the way, rushing down the flight of stairs while hot on his trail.

Finally, Taroimo stopped on the stairs and winged a quick right, finally deciding to stay on a certain level. Ridge followed him and saw an empty-looking room. And several yards in front of him, there was a door. Taroimo seemed to bark at this door, and Ridge guessed that in that room was where he needed to set the bomb.

He tightened the grip on the bomb, getting ready to move.

Then, he felt a raking sense of pain on his shoulder. He quickly stumbled forward, but kept his ground, as blood gushed from his new wound. He immediately turned around to see Viper standing there in his hybrid form, a smile on his face with his deadly-looking claws extended. Next to him, stood a laughing Engar.

"Nice shot there Viper!" he said with his laugh. "Now it's my turn!"

Ridge quickly pulled out his single pistol, but he was too late as Engar was already on him, throwing a massive punch to the side of his face. Surprisingly to Ridge, it didn't seem like the man's flesh hit him, but something else. Something that was able to cut up his entire cheek and felt a lot harder than bone.

He landed on the ground and looked to see Engar standing over him, his bloodied fist extended. What Ridge saw, however, wasn't a human fist, but one that looked like some kind of gray scratchy metal.

Engar saw Ridge's eyes move to his hand, and he said, "I guess you noticed. I happened to eat the Flint-Flint Fruit. With it, it allows me to turn my entire body into flint, giving my attacks much more…oomph. Naturally, being a hand-to-hand fighter anyway, I was still put under the Power Corps, despite my amazing ability."

Ridge didn't understand the second half, but quickly pulled out his pistol, aiming it at Engar now. He simply smiled and reacted by swiping his flint hand across the ground, causing sparks to fly into Ridge's face. He quickly recoiled and stood up, aiming his pistol at Engar and firing it.

The bullet bounced off his body, creating a small spark. "Nice try," he smiled, before moving to attack him again with his fist.

Ridge quickly used his now-useless pistol to block his attack, which sent more sparks flying and his pistol falling from his hand. Thinking fast, Ridge kneed Engar in his exposed stomach, causing him to recoil. He picked Taroimo up and quickly sprinted away from the two towards the door that he needed to go to.

"Stop him!" Viper said to Engar, running after his enemy.

Ridge made it to the door in time and was able to shut it. He quickly put Taroimo down and barred the door with a nearby table, jamming it so no one could get in. On the outside, he could feel the vibrations of Viper and Engar pounding on the door.

The two Corps members saw that after a while, it was futile, and Engar thought of a new plan. Turning both of his hand into flint material, he quickly knocked the two of them together, creating sparks that fell onto the floor. After a few tries, one spark finally set the wood floor to create a small fire.

"What the fuck are you doing?" demanded Viper.

"We're gonna smoke him out!" replied Engar with a laugh. "The smoke will get through the cracks and he'll either asphyxiate or come back out, where we'll be waiting."

"You forgot that you caused a fire on Victor's beloved ship!" replied Viper.

Engar laughed again and said, "Relax, it's only a small one that I'm able to contain. Just wait, in a few minutes that man will be coming out here coughing up a storm, and when he does, we'll be ready to gut him like a fish!"

Viper sighed, and decided to wait it out with his comrade.

— — —

Ridge could see smoke coming in through the jammed door, and with a small cough, he tried to ignore it and moved to the power core of the ship.

He looked upon it and saw that it truly was a masterpiece of work. It was a large silver machine full of uncountable gears and levers and pistons that looked to move if you turned it on. Unfortunately for Ridge, he knew what he had to do.

He took the bomb that Garp gave him out of its pack and inspected it. It was small in its own right, but Ridge could tell it was powerful. On one side, there was a single black screen with dials underneath it. Ridge figured you set the time limit before the bomb went off there. On the back, there was a small sheet of paper, and Ridge peeled it off, realizing that the back of it was sticky.

Ridge quickly examined his options now. Smoke was billowing into the room that easily threatened to end his life, and outside of the door, he was certain death awaited him. Ridge was no trained fighter, and he knew that if he tried to confront the two again, he would get killed or captured, and then they would easily be able to deactivate the bomb and the plan would fail.

Ridge couldn't risk that; he knew what he had to do.

He quickly went to setting it. He originally planned to set it for ten minutes, but that part had to be scrapped. Instead, he set it to its new time and stuck the sticky-edge of it right on the middle of the machine.

Thirty seconds until the bomb went off.

More smoke billowed in as Ridge coughed and sat down on the floor, Taroimo sitting next to him, wagging his tail. He smiled weakly at the dog and gave him an affectionate pat on the head.

Twenty-five seconds.

Ridge found himself recalling several memories of his life in his final seconds, trying to think of all the happy times that he had.

He had been born deaf, and as such, he could never learn to speak properly, giving him the dubious honor of being a deaf-mute. Luckily for him, however, his mother never gave up on her son and spent hours and hours teaching him how to read and write and read lips.

_("this is important Ridge, so pay attention," she always used to say. "I'm trying to make you as close to normal as you can ever be")_

Eighteen seconds.

Ridge smiled at this, as he remembered when he met Julia. She truly was beautiful, and Ridge imagined that it was her personality that drew him to her, and hopefully, he thought, that's what drew her to him.

_("your name's Ridge, huh?" Julia asked with a kind smile. "that sure is a funny name…")_

They hit it off immediately, and within a year, they had decided to get married. After the wedding, they bought a small plot of land on the Vespian Isles where they intended to build a successful farming business.

Thirteen seconds.

Looking back on his life, Ridge had no regrets and was absolutely fine with its outcome. He patted Taroimo on the head again, as a large smile on his face appeared.

Eight seconds.

Thinking back even further, there was something that his mother always used to say that stuck with he only remembered recently. It was her catchphrase, one might say, and Ridge had never really thought about until recently, however, it kept ringing through his head.

_("remember Ridge, no matter what happens in this world, no matter what scum this earth might churn out, no matter what may happen to you, promise that you will always turn out smiling")_

Three seconds.

_("say it with me: I will always turn out smiling, I will al—")_

A silent burst of white light filled all of Poseidon and pierced the night sky.

And the righteous and unrighteous alike were consumed in that unavoidable purge.

* * *

Death of a Hero, birth of a Legend...

**Behind the Character (5): Ridge Carrison**

Ever since I read Brian Jacque's novel known as _Redwall_, and more importantly, read about a character he had named Silent Sam (a mute character), I have been fascinated with people who were not able to speak. I always found it interesting to find out how to portray someone who could never have a word of dialogue, and after reading Stephen King's _The Stand_ and encountering a character by the name of Nick Andros, who was also a deaf-mute, I knew I just had to make a character of my own like them, and thus, Ridge Carrison was created.

Design-wise, there really wasn't one. I've always been of a fan of not describing some characters very well, but just giving a few key things about them and letting the reader themselves have their own image of what the character might look like. I designed Ridge with that in mind, and I think it showed, having my own distinct look of the character that I'm sure differs from yours.

Personality-wise, there is no real model. I decided early on that I needed a leader-like figure during the Vespian Isles arc, and I designed Ridge's personality much to that effect. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of not speaking, it was a little hard to portray any kind of personality on him at all. I think I did a decent job with facial expressions and his actions and such, but I can never know for sure. If I were to sum up his personality all in one sentence, it would be: a caring compassionate leader who knew his limits, limitations, and leadership abilities.

One of the more interesting things that I like about Ridge is that he was a leader of a rebellion who in fact, _didn't_ fight. Sure, he fired a gun a few times, but compared to everyone else, he didn't trade blows that much. I think this gave him a different type of dynamic from other rebel leaders (Koza immediately comes to mind) and makes him unique in his own sense.

Yet another interesting fact (at least to me), is centered around his name. My real name (which you don't know, nor will you probably ever) was originally supposed to be Ridgeley, or Ridge for short. While glad I didn't receive that name, I've always had some kind of special connection with the name, and decided to use it here. Perhaps due to that, I felt a special connection with the character and truly enjoyed writing about him, but I can't say for sure…

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	68. Reaction

And then... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**68: Reaction**

Luffy let out a roar and threw another fist at Victor, who simply leapt to dodge the strike before moving towards him, employing the power of the Dice-Dice Fruit to turn his fingers to blades.

"Razor Claws!" he quickly said, rushing past Luffy while slicing his chest open.

Luffy let out a cry of pain as blood shot out of his new wounds, but Garp was already attacking, throwing a massive punch at Victor. He quickly ducked and was able to slash open Garp's chest as well before kicking him in the side of the head and sending him to the ground.

Victor shifted in forth, raising his fists in a fighting position, saying to the two, "It's too risky to use my Logia abilities as a defense, lest you use your Haki on me, intentionally or otherwise, but there's still always good old-fashioned dodging and conventional combat that can be used."

Luffy and Garp were back up now, not minding their wounds very much at this point. They had both wounded Victor well, but in return, they had acquired their own fair share of wounds.

Victor smirked at them and raised his right hand, using the Dark-Dark powers to turn it completely black. Darkness descended from him and went onto the ground, and Garp immediately said to Luffy, "Jump now!"

"Black Hole!" shouted a gleeful Victor.

Both Luffy and Garp leapt into the air in time before the darkness descended from under them and sucked up the ground, and Luffy punched his fists together as white smoke came from his body. "Gear Second!"

He quickly sped from the air to right in front of Victor and threw a quick punch, yelling, "Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!"

Victor thought fast and switched powers to turn his body into magma. Luffy's attack passed through him, but forced Victor to cancel out the Black Hole ability, allowing Garp to land and sprint towards Victor with his fist cocked back.

He didn't have time to avoid, and took a direct punch to the face, with Garp's Haki power nullifying his Logia intangibility and sending Victor flying to the floor with a crash, blood flying from his face.

He got up and held where he just got hit, but surprisingly smiled at Garp. "That old fist has still got a lot of life in it; nice to see that hasn't changed. Although it is starting to get a little annoying."

Garp crossed his arms and said, "I'd say it's very well deserved, and I don't intend on stopping until I beat you into submission!"

Victor smiled at this and started, "Well if that's the case, then I guess I'm just gonna have to—"

The explosion of Poseidon got all of their attention.

"What…" Luffy said in an awestruck manner, looking at the massive fireworks show that was once known as Poseidon.

Garp let out a small laugh and said, "I didn't think that bomb I designed would have such power, but I guess it's for the better…"

Victor simply stood there dumbstruck, not quite able to handle the fact that his prize and plan had just been blown up at once.

— — —

Smoker and Tobias had a drawn-out fight indeed.

The Commodore recognized Tobias's power, but by no means intended to yield to it. He continually tried to subdue him with his jutte, but to no avail, as Tobias always came up with a clever way to dream up a roadblock of some kind.

Tobias found that it was equally hard to take care of Smoker. He continually hit him with several attacks and techniques, but found that Smoker simply let them pass through him with his Logia powers. He tried to hit him with several dreamed up seastones, but Smoker wasn't so weak as to let those hit or stop him.

Currently, they both stood on opposite sides of each other, their battle taking them a little farther from Poseidon than where they started. Tobias's breathing was getting heavier, as was Smoker's, but regardless, they kept up their attacks and facades of not tiring down.

"Looks like after a while of dreaming things up, you get a little ragged," Smoker smiled to his opponent.

Tobias looked at him and shot back, "I could say the same to you Commodore. Looks like even the impervious Logia-users are able to get tired after a long drawn-out fight."

Smoker was going to speak again, but before he could, Poseidon exploded.

The sheer power of the explosion sent both of them flying to the floor in recoil, as Smoker and Tobias both looked up to see the sight. Both Smoker and Tobias scowled inwardly as they knew they had a large amount of men fighting on the ship, and they most likely didn't make it out alive.

Immediately forgetting their fight, they both disregarded each other and went their separate ways to go and get damage reports.

— — —

Beau's tank _Obliterator_ had taken quite a beating. He prided himself on shielding it the best he could, but he would be the first to admit that he didn't plan on fighting a mastodon and Cerberus with it.

At this point, the tank was barely functional and didn't move much from its spot, leaving it wide open to attacks from both Kaede and Kenji. Beau had to thank Nami, Robin, Brook, and Usopp for keeping their attention away from him, as he was obviously a sitting duck.

The four Straw Hats also fought valiantly against the two monsters, pulling out all the stops in an attempt to beat them, and while it did succeed to some level, it didn't finish them off completely.

Beau continued to help by firing from the tank, but after taking a few more hits from the two brothers, he knew he had to abandon his machine. He got out just in time to see _Obliterator_ go up in flames before finally exploding and spewing out its gadgets and machinery.

Despite that setback, Beau wasn't out of the fight yet, as he continued to fire at the brothers with the tweaked weapons he had designed, the most prominent of which was a bazooka that shot out cannonballs.

After a few more minutes of fighting, it was clear that both Kaede and Kenji were tired of fighting the five of them, as they both turned into their hybrid forms yet again.

"You guys are like pests," Kaede stated angrily. "You never know when to stop or quit, do you?"

Nami raised her Perfect Clima-Tact and shot back, "We could say the same for you."

Kenji laughed a bit and said to Kaede, "She got us there brother."

Kaede struck up a fighting position and said, "Whatever. It's time to end this fight once and for all."

Beau slumped back and said, "This old man's pretty tired, I'll let you take care of it."

Usopp responded comically by saying, "That's not fair! You gotta fight with the rest of us, regardless of how you feel."

Beau gave a little laugh and said, "But you guys are doing it so well, I figured I'm not needed anymore."

Usopp and Brook were about to say something in retort, but before they could, Poseidon blew up behind them, prompting them all to look that way.

"Brother, isn't that…" started Kenji.

"I'm afraid it is," replied a growling Kaede.

Beau smiled and took out a flask he had in his back pocket, laughing and raising it high into the air. "This is to you, Ridge old friend, for finally getting rid of that fuckin' headache for us!"

He then took a long drink.

— — —

The explosion shocked Julia to a state that she thought couldn't be reached before.

She had done as Ridge had asked and contacted all of the rebel captains, telling them to send out distress calls to all of their men in an order to retreat if they were fighting on Poseidon.

It seemed to work, as she saw more and more rebels who could were vacating the premises, most of them having looks of confusion on their face as to why they had to leave the fight so early. After doing such a task, she had expected to see Ridge or hear from him (from someone else's voice, of course) when he had completed the mission.

What she hadn't expected, however, was to see the ship suddenly blow up without so much as a word or clue that Ridge had made it out safely. This had brought her to think of the worst case scenarios, and almost immediately after seeing the sight, something in her seemed to cry out.

_"RIDGE!" _she yelled at the top of her lungs, hoping in vain to get some kind of response.

When she got none, she continued to yell his name until her throat was raw, and when she couldn't yell anymore, she sprinted towards the wreckage, even though most people were running away from it.

All the while, she continued to yell his name, despite knowing that he couldn't hear her, and that her throat sang out in pain every time she did so.

— — —

The sudden destruction of Poseidon had brought an end to hundreds of lives, marines, rebels, and Corps members alike, and the resulting shrapnel and shockwaves sent even more to the ground in pain.

Fights were immediately stopped, and just like that, the infighting at the Hydrox Isle came to an end.

Everywhere around the Vespian Isles, its citizens looked onward with a mix of confusion and shock on all of their faces.

All the Straw Hat and Corps of Kings members separated from their battles to go and tend to their own needs now, and even Luffy and Garp stopped their fight with Victor.

It was perhaps Victor D. Capere that seemed most shocked by this sight, simply standing there and staring out at the holocaust that took place. All of his hard work and effort went up in flames along with the ship, and he knew that he had taken a massive loss.

After several long seconds of simply staring, Victor pounded his fist onto the ground and screamed at the top of his lungs, _"NO, GOD DAMN IT! I DID NOT SPEND ALL OF THIS TIME LOCATING AND EXCAVATING THE ANCIENT WEAPON ONLY TO SEE IT BE DESTROYED BEFORE MY VERY EYES!"_

Then, to everyone's surprise, the entire isle of Hydrox began to tilt back and forth, as its very foundation was rocked with massive waves pounding against its shores. Everyone looked to see Victor standing there, using the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to shake the entire island itself.

His face seemed to calm down while doing this, as he shouted, "WE'RE LEAVING THIS GODFORSAKEN ISLAND, AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T COME WITH ME NOW WILL BE LEFT BEHIND!"

The entire Corps of Kings seemed to get the idea as they all immediately sprinted towards their leader, who continued to shake the entire isle, throwing everyone off balance.

"WAIT!" Luffy yelled, holding his arm out. "YOU CAN'T JUST WALK OUT ON OUR BATTLE AGAIN!"

Victor looked at him and said through the blood, "Watch me, boy!"

The entire Corps of Kings had gathered up at this point and Victor continued to rock the entire isle, even as he and his men began to run away from the area. Those who tried to chase after him found that it was near impossible, as they lost their balance or rifts being formed on the isle stopped them from going any further.

Luffy also attempted in vain to chase after him, but was immediately held in a choke-hold by Garp, who restrained him completely.

"Let me go Grandpa!" Luffy yelled futilely. "We can't just let him get away!"

"Don't be stupid, boy!" Garp shot back. "You'd only get yourself killed if you chased after him alone! We did what we needed to do, but going after him now would be stupid and reckless!"

"What if he gets away and does more harm, huh?" asked the struggling Luffy.

Garp remained calm and simply stated, "Live to fight another day, and we'll fight him again, I guarantee you that, but for now, just let it go."

Everyone seemed to understand Garp's words as they all immediately stepped down and didn't give chase anymore. After a few minutes, the shaking stopped, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, as they went to go and do damage control to the Hydrox Isle, which had seen more than its fair share of suffering on this day.

— — —

Victor had Tobias dream up a galleon and immediately set sail with whoever was onboard.

He quickly looked around and saw who had made it with him. Tobias, Vendrix, Aliyyah, Daron, Kenji, and Kaede were all that was left (with the exception of Benjamin missing, but Victor didn't worry about that). Everyone else—who was alive, anyway—was left back on that isle to face retribution and judgment.

"I don't get it," Kaede finally said. "If you can dream up a ship like this, Tobias, then why don't you just dream up Poseidon?"

"The Dream-Dream Fruit has limits," Tobias quickly replied. "With each dream, it taxes the user, and the bigger the item he dreams up, the more it taxes him. If I were to dream up Poseidon, it wouldn't last for more than a minute."

Victor simply sat on the ground, not speaking to anyone for the moment. Vendrix decided to be the one to ask the question (with a bit of satisfaction in his voice, nonetheless). "So we lost all of the Zoan, Blade, and Power Corps, and about half of the Corps of Kings, including all of Blackbeard's old crew and poor old William, and we didn't even get Poseidon. So what exactly—oh great leader—do you intend to do now?"

Victor was silent for a second, as everyone trained their eyes on him. Finally, he spoke to them. "The loss of our crew and Poseidon was truly a setback, but it's not enough to stop us from our ultimate goal. It will take some time to recover, but I assure you we're not out of the game yet."

"So where do we go next, then?" asked Daron.

Victor looked at all of them and said, "Next, we go to Raftel to find One Piece."

* * *

Moving forward with the plan, despite the setbacks...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	69. Aftermath

To the doctor's office. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**69: Aftermath**

Tony Tony Chopper had gone to Yalia Town, as ordered by Beau, to deliver medical supplies. Once there, he met Captain Boraz, who was also an incredibly skilled doctor and head of the rebel's medical team.

Chopper explained how he was a doctor, and Boraz decided to keep him at Yalia to help out when the wounded came. Eventually they did, and Chopper did what he could to help them, at the cost of staying out of the entire fight at Hydrox. Chopper didn't mind that, as he felt it was his duty as a doctor to help the wounded instead of fight.

Near the battle's end, however, two men came in that Chopper met and dealt with directly, and he recognized them almost immediately.

Red-Haired Shanks came in while carrying Dark King Silvers Rayleigh, demanding that they needed medical aid as soon as possible. Chopper quickly jumped on it and helped Rayleigh first (as Shanks said he was more injured than him) and was able to stabilize his condition and told Shanks he needed to recover and rest.

Shanks nodded and said, "I understand. It was a pretty rough fight…"

"Now if I might be allowed to look at your wounds," Chopper said.

Shanks shot back to reality and smiled, saying, "Yes, I'd like that very much."

They left Rayleigh to rest as Chopper also helped Shanks with his own condition. While Chopper was healing him, he continually kept looking at Shanks' face before looking back at what he was doing.

After a while, Shanks finally asked, "Is there something on my face?"

"No, no," Chopper said rather quickly. "It's just that…you're really him, aren't you, one of the Yonko, Red-Haired Shanks."

Shanks smiled at this and replied, "Yeah, that's right."

"Well, why are you here?" Chopper finally asked.

"Let's see," Shanks said, running a hand through his hair. "Well I was only minding my own business with my crew on some New World Island, when I suddenly get a message from my old friend, Old Man Rayleigh, saying I needed to meet with him urgently. Despite my crew's own pleas, I left them behind on the island—if not for their own safety and the fact that it was rather personal business—and set out to meet Silvers myself. And, well, we travelled here, and the rest is history, as they say."

Chopper nodded. "But I mean, did you come here to see Luffy?"

"What's that?"

Chopper was silent for a second, before saying, "Well, Luffy always talks about you and such, so I just thought maybe you'd come to see him."

Shanks shook his head. "It's a bit too early for that, I'm afraid. No, I'm here strictly on business."

"I see," Chopper said. Then, he finally said, "I'm done."

"Really?" asked Shanks. "That sure didn't take long."

Chopper nodded. "I cleared your body of most of the infection, but you have to take some medicine for a few days to kill it off completely, and it wouldn't hurt to take it easy for a few—"

Shanks suddenly stood up and said, "Unfortunately, I don't have time to take it easy."

He began to walk towards the door. "Hey!" Chopper called, making him stop. "Where are you going?"

"Going?" asked Shanks, looking back. "I gotta get back to my crew and do a few other things. My job is done here anyways."

"What about Rayleigh?"

Shanks smiled yet again and said, "That Old Man is tough and knows how to handle himself. I'd imagine he'll go back home now, but I can't be sure. Regardless, our part of the journey together is done, although it was fun."

He opened the door and was about to walk out, but he suddenly stopped as if he remembered something. He turned back to Chopper.

"Oh, and please don't tell Luffy that you ever saw me. As far as he's concerned, I was never here. Okay?"

"Uh…okay…" Chopper said quietly.

"Thanks," Shanks said, as he waved his hand at Chopper, and then closed the door.

He was never seen on the Vespian Isles again.

— — —

After Victor left, everyone immediately attempted to regroup with their own respective groups, if not to find some semblance of order after all of the chaos.

Amongst all of this tragedy, however, there was still a ray of happiness, and it came in the form of a reunion. Finally, after all of this time, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Robin, Franky, and Brook were back together again.

At first, they thought it wasn't real, like some kind of surreal dream. After all, it had been so long since they got separated that it was almost (though thankfully not quite) the norm to have the crew split up.

Hugs were made, tears were shed, and there was a lot of catching up to do. Luffy, in particular, seemed to get over his mood quickly when he saw all of their faces again.

"I can't believe you're really here!" Luffy said to Robin, Franky, and Brook. "I was so caught up in the battle that I didn't even notice you!"

"I guess you could say the same for us," Robin chuckled.

"It's good to be back," Franky said.

"This is a sight for my sore eyes," Brook said. "Oh wait, I don't have any eyes! Yohoho!"

Surprisingly, everyone laughed at this joke. Not because it was funny (mind you), but rather because most of them had gone on so long without hearing it that it was a breath of fresh air. After their long outburst of laughter, they all decided to go and find Chopper, who Robin, Franky, and Brook estimated to still be at Yalia Town.

They were going to ask some of the rebels, in particular Julia, Ridge, or Beau, but when they saw Julia and Beau together at the remnants of Poseidon, they decided they would just try and find it using the map Robin had on her.

They didn't know how lucky they were to get off the Hydrox Isle without getting arrested, as not too far away, Commodore Smoker, Captain Hina, and Ensign Tashigi were sifting through the rubble of Poseidon as well, hoping in vain to find any sort of marine survivors.

Smoker, in general, seemed intent on at least capturing the Straw Hats for obvious reasons, but when Garp showed on the scene again, he warned them against it.

"This is no time for your petty revenge scheme," he had said to the Commodore. "Besides, there are much deadlier villains we can capture that are unconscious already and just waiting for us peacefully."

Smoker sighed, as he knew there was truth to that. Kaido was nowhere to be found, and that was never a good thing. He had also caught wind that Blackbeard's escaped crew of Level 6 prisoners were here, and he was intent on returning them back to where they belonged.

Indeed, Smoker had given up on the prospect of capturing the Straw Hats, as he knew that—even though they were pirates—they helped the marines out immensely. Besides, he knew that deep down he would capture the Straw Hats and no one would be able to stop him.

It was simply a question of when.

— — —

Eventually, the long night of rebellion passed and it was daytime now. It was at this time that the Straw Hats came to Yalia Town under news that Chopper (who they also had a happy reunion with last night) had given them.

Everyone (including Hancock) entered the medical center and found that, like before, it was still full to the brim with patients. The medical staff didn't refuse anyone, be they marines or rebels, and when they all piled in after the fight last night, it showed how busy the doctors all were.

After pushing through the hallways crowded with patients, they came across Trafalgar Law, who had decided to lend his medical expertise to help out when needed. He saw the Straw Hats and nodded his head to show that he had noticed them, but then went back to work.

As for Trafalgar Law, Jewelry Bonney, and Sir Crocodile, the Straw Hats didn't know what their plans were next, but they imagined they would either split up and go their separate ways, or continue on their journey together again.

Finally, they got to the room they were looking for. They entered to see Silvers Rayleigh in a small bed with Chopper at his side, administering medicine to him. They both noticed the Straw Hats immediately and said their hellos.

They all finally settled into the room and sat down, surrounding Rayleigh's bed, which seemed to make him a little uncomfortable. Finally, he had to ask the group, "What is it?"

"Time to be straight with us," Luffy said in a serious tone.

"What do you mean?"

Sanji took a puff on his cigarette and said, "It's obvious you have some kind of history with Victor."

"Even an idiot would pick up on the clues at this point," Nami added.

Luffy nodded and looked at Rayleigh again. "So we want you to tell us everything you know about him, because we don't think this was the last time we'll see him."

Rayleigh surprisingly let out a roaring laugh at this. When he finally settled down, he said, "I see nothing can be slipped past you youngsters, although as Nami put it, you _would_ have to be an idiot not to notice."

Zoro sighed and said, "Just tell us already. How do you know Victor?"

After a few seconds, Rayleigh finally said, "Victor was once a part of Gold Roger's crew."

Everyone looked in shock at this, and it took them several seconds to say anything.

"What…did you say?" questioned Usopp.

Rayleigh nodded. "It's true. He was a younger man back then, but he was one of our crewmates. A good, strong pirate as I remembered it. Never afraid of anything and always a lover of the romantic lifestyle of piracy."

"To think, that man would have such a history," Robin said.

"Well what happened to him? How did he end up wanting to capture and kill so many pirates then?" asked Luffy.

"Back on Roger's ship…there was an incident that occurred."

"What incident?" they all seemed to ask.

Rayleigh stayed silent.

After a few more seconds, Franky asked, "Since you know him the best, it seems, what do you think he wants?"

Rayleigh shrugged. "He only knew of where Poseidon was because we as a crew travelled there and learned that secret together, but as for what he wants…I couldn't say for sure."

Silence reigned for a few more seconds.

"But if I were to guess," Rayleigh continued, "it would have to do with One Piece and Raftel."

"So he just wants money?" asked Sanji.

Rayleigh shook his head. "No, Victor isn't the type to go after One Piece just for the money or status."

"What for then?" inquired Chopper.

Rayleigh took a deep breath and tilted his head back. "I would have to say…to send a message, if anything."

"Message?"

Rayleigh nodded. "After years of what Victor's been through and that…incident, Victor has developed a certain amount of loathing for pirates in general. Therefore, I think he might want to go to Raftel to send some kind of message to pirates, although even I'm not sure of what it might be."

Everyone remained silent at this, and a good minute passed by.

Finally, Rayleigh smiled and said, "That's all I can tell you, I'm afraid. And I certainly hope you don't expect anything more from me, because after I'm discharged from here, I'm going back to Sabaody to live out my peaceful life. But let me give you one more word of warning before I leave you to your journey, Straw Hats."

They all leaned in so they could hear it better.

"Don't underestimate Victor. He's capable of much more than you think of."

No one spoke to that, simply took it in and registered it deep into their minds for future use.

— — —

In the middle of the forest, Julia Carrison examined the wreckage of what was once her house. It looked to her as if some kind of massive cannon or artillery shell hit her house, utterly destroying it.

She sighed as she looked to see that even though most of the pens holding the animals had escaped, they still chose to come back when the madness settled down, knowing no other home. And Julia was happy for that.

She then went to work, beginning to pick up the scraps and debris of her house. She would need to rebuild, she decided. That was fine with her. Julia was always good with her hands and helped Ridge build their house the first time anyway.

Ridge…

She stopped what she was doing. No matter what the context, every time she thinks of his name, she feels a shudder run through her body, and she rightly knows why. After searching the wreckage of Poseidon with Beau, they had finally determined that Ridge was on the ship when it happened, and was just one more to the already many casualties that Poseidon's destruction brought.

She simply stood there, not doing anything anymore, when from behind her Beau appeared with a bottle of wine in his hand. Julia sensed him and without bother to turn around, she asked, "What is it you want?"

Beau seemed slightly put off by this, but continued walking forward anyway. "I just came to see how you're doing."

"How do you think?"

Beau sighed and raised the bottle. "I brought some wine that I thought we could drink to toast to Ridge."

"Maybe later."

Beau stopped a few feet away from her, and closed his eyes and looked down. "He wouldn't want it like this, and you know it."

"Well what do you want me to do?" she asked, still not bothering to look around. "I know he did the right thing, and that he sacrificed himself for the greater good and all that, but…"

"But?"

Julia turned around to reveal that tears were streaming down her face.

"But it still hurts so much…" she said with a sob.

Beau set down the bottle and said, "I know it does. He was my good friend as well, and it hurts for me too, but I know that at some point, we have to move on and not hold ourselves back because of what he did."

"I know," Julia said, gripping her arms, "but it's still not fair."

"Nothing is fair in life, and Ridge knew that," Beau said, "but we still have our memories of him, and that means he can never truly die."

Julia remained silent, the tears still willingly falling from her face. Finally, she looked at Beau dead in the eyes and started, "Do you think…"

"Do I think what?"

"Do you think…that the pain ever goes away?"

Ridge gave a brief, consoling smile, and said, "No, I don't think it ever does…"

Julia walked towards Beau and gave him a hug, burying her face in his shoulder while she continued to sob quietly. Beau nodded and patted her lightly on her head to let her know that he was there.

There, for several minutes, they held each other in Julia's shattered yard.

* * *

Amidst the revelations, the Act leaves us again...

**Behind the Character (6): Julia Carrison**

Created as a counterpart to Ridge and really only there to speak for him (you know…because of the deaf-mute part) in the beginning, I'll be the first to say that I'm surprised Julia grew into a full-fledged character that turned out the way she did. What started as simply the wife of a rebel leader, really grew into something much, much larger.

Design-wise, there is no design. She, like Ridge, I kind of made to be a bit ambiguous, letting the reader decide what she looked like. Other than that, I just gave her long hair because I thought it went with the kind of "wild" way they live, but other than that, it's totally up to the reader to fill the rest in.

Personality-wise, there's no specific model, but if I were to say anyone who I personally think she resembles, it would have to be Faye Valentine from _Cowboy Bebop_, the greatest anime to ever be made. While not intentionally doing it, I realize that they have the same kind of personality, completely independent and capable of living their own lives and not willing to take shit from anyone, regardless of who it is. I think Julia hates to be underestimated, and whenever she is or told she can't do something, she takes offense and feels personally insulted for it (as she should be).

As for her relationship with Ridge, I tried to make it as close and connecting as possible, while still keeping it into the context of what a typical shonen manga, or One Piece in general would have. To be honest, I was a bit nervous writing about them being married and showing affection in that kind of way, if only because One Piece had never really done that before. Despite that, I like to think I pulled it off fairly decently, but I guess that's open to interpretation.

Unlike several women in One Piece who have a commanding role, I didn't give her any specific fighting abilities. Like Ridge, I really enjoyed the idea of simple leaders who never actually have a real battle with anyone. True, she did fight against Kenji and Kaede for a bit, but it wasn't the type of fight I normally write. Instead, I wrote that fight to show she was fearless, and would fight if need to be, but just fires a gun if needed.

If I were to sum up my thought on her in one sentence, it would have to be: a fiercely loyal and determined leader who had a firm grasp on reality and knew what could and couldn't be achieved who grew from a simple foil character to Ridge into a full-on player in the Vespian Isles arc.

Or something along those lines…

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	70. The Scattering

Onward to the final glory... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

_Act 3: The Night_

And as the flames climbed high into the night  
To light the sacrificial rite,  
I saw Satan laughing with delight  
The day the Music died…  
—Don McLean

Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you.  
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you.  
The vagabond who's rapping at your door  
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore.  
Strike another match, go start anew  
And it's all over now, Baby Blue...  
—Bob Dylan

To fling my arms wide  
In the face of the sun,  
Dance! Whirl! Whirl!  
Till the quick day is done.  
Rest at pale evening…  
Beneath a tall tree  
While night comes on gently,  
Dark like me…  
—Langston Hughes

—

**70: The Scattering**

Razeden Kaido sat in his small dingy cell on the lowest level of the marine ship Smoker had come in on. Shackling his arms and lets together was a pair of seastone cuffs for each, forcing Kaido into an awkward sitting position.

After his fight with Shanks and Rayleigh (which he refused to call a loss) and his subsequent blackout, he woke up to find Commodore Smoker looking over him, clasping a seastone cuff to his limp wrist. He was quickly escorted by most of the remaining marine soldiers (which Kaido had come to realize that most were killed in some kind of explosion) into the cell, where he currently resided.

After locking the ironclad prison doors, the marines quickly disappeared under orders from Smoker to go back and search for the remaining pirates they were going to make prisoners. Kaido didn't know who they were exactly, but he figured

_(Basco, Devon, Pizarro, Shiryu)_

they were most likely a part of Victor's crew. Kaido didn't know what became of his own crew—the Plague Pirates—and he really couldn't care less. His crew didn't mean much to him to begin with, only a means to serve his ends, and his end was supposed to be at One Piece.

That same One Piece that Victor promised he could lead him to on Poseidon if he simply made a pact with him and a promise of fifty percent of the loot. Kaido never intended to keep that promise, and he suspected Victor didn't either. It didn't matter to him, as when Victor fulfilled his end of the bargain, he would just use the powers of the Flu-Flu Fruit to put him and his entire crew out of their misery, and he alone would reign as the Pirate King.

That dream, however, was looking more and more faint as time passed by. He certainly wouldn't become the Pirate King in this marine cell or Impel Down for that matter. With each passing minute, it seemed that the Yonko had lost yet another of their ranks, and only Shanks and Big Mom would remain.

So there Kaido sat, not a marine in sight (but most likely a few upstairs) to guard him, and he was powerless to do anything. He gave some of his chains a good yank, yet nothing came of it, and Kaido simply rested his head against the wall he was sitting back against.

Then, some noise happened upstairs.

Kaido at first dismissed this as simply the marines returning with new prisoners, but the sounds of a few screams from up top made him doubt his initial hypothesis. Soon enough, he heard tumbling and a few more screams, before finally, footsteps going down the stairs to his level.

Kaido twisted his head to look where the steps ended, and the entire time the person was walking down them, a whistling echoed through the halls. Soon enough, he heard a voice that was get louder and louder as the time passed.

"You would think a marine ship holding such a deadly prisoner would have a bit more defense, but I guess I can't blame 'em. They are, after all, low on men and probably usin' 'em to find some more scalawags to clasp in irons."

The man, wearing a suit, marine cap, and having a dangerous-looking nodachi worn at his side, came into sight. He was twirling a ring of keys around his index finger while continuing to whistle. He eventually stopped right in front of Kaido's cell, kneeling down to get eye-level with the man.

It took Kaido a second, but finally, he recognized him.

"You…" Kaido started.

Benjamin McAllister replaced his marine cap with his old familiar one and unbuttoned his suit, a wolfish grin appearing on his face. His whistling stopped as he continued to twirl the ring of keys around his finger.

"Need a hand, partner?"

— — —

They still continued to come at a continuous pace.

Even now, wounded fighters and soldiers came into the Yalia Medical Center, begging for aid. Having taken a doctor's oath (sort of…), Trafalgar Law found that he couldn't refuse them. He and several other doctors kept at the continuous pace of patients and did their best with them.

Law found that he didn't mind this. One of the main reasons he became a doctor was because he enjoyed the practice and always found it somewhat soothing to himself. He continued to do what he did best, earning only a minimal amount of breaks and spending most his time at the hospital.

The Straw Hats were correct, Law didn't know what was going to happen to the alliance he had made with Bonney and Crocodile. They had banded together for the sake of convenience and were united under a common goal; they had never talked about what they were going to do after they had landed on the Vespian Isles and done what they needed to do.

Law imagined they would break apart at this point, and he couldn't blame them. Crocodile, after all, only chose them because they were the best choice to further his goals, and Bonney only agreed with a certain amount of reluctance.

For Law, however, it seemed like the investigation was over when Poseidon blew up. Law simply started this cat-and-mouse hunt to find out who was offing his fellow Supernovas, to make sure he wouldn't fall next under the category of "captured," and to answer the question that had been on his mind the entire time: why?

Now that he discovered it was Victor D. Capere who captured them for their Devil Fruits to most likely give him enough power so he could storm the Vespian Isles and take Poseidon, it didn't interest Law that much anymore. From the beginning, it was never about avenging any of his Supernovas, but rather, just a quest of morbid curiosity and a look into the psyche of a man who could pull off such a feat.

Law never felt like he cared for any of his Supernovas, and only regarded them as rivals, with the only exception being that of Bonney, who, as much as he hated to admit it, he had grown somewhat of a bond with on their journey, and what's more, he knew that Bonney had felt it as well (though she would be even more reluctant to admit it).

Law wasn't naïve enough to think that the bond they now had was enough to keep them together as a team. They were pirates, and most pirates worked solo, at least by definition, and Bonney was, if not anything, the perfect definition of a pirate. He didn't even expect a goodbye, rather just to have Bepo and Jean Bart come in and tell him that both her and Crocodile had left.

Law was currently on break after a rather long shift of doctor duties, and even after seeing the Straw Hat's doctor

_(was Chopper his name? Law would be damned if he could remember)_

leave Yalia for good as his crew was about to depart, Law decided to stay, thinking he was still needed and he needed something to take his mind off of his rather wild journey the past week or so.

It was then that he heard a familiar loud (and obnoxious) voice through the halls, demanding to know where Law was. He sighed, sat down in the break room, and waited for what he knew was coming.

Right on cue, Jewelry Bonney burst through the door and yelled, "Law?"

"Calm down, I'm right here," the Dark Doctor coolly replied.

Bonney looked and said breathlessly, "Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you all over this damned hospital."

"What for?"

She took a second to catch her breath, before finally saying, "Crocodile's gone!"

Law couldn't say he was surprised.

"Took off without a word, eh?"

"Well," Bonney explained, "he wrote a note and gave it to one of my crewmen, who then gave it to me. It just said that he was going to chase after Victor alone now that he's got a solid lead and trail on him, and that he wanted to thank us for the quote 'fun times'."

Law shifted in his seat a little. "Wanted to thank us? That sounds quite unlike the former Shichibukai. Can't say I'm surprised by his sudden departure, though."

Bonney looked at him incredulously. "You serious? To think, after all that, after all we'd been through together, he just took off like we were nothing."

Law raised an eyebrow quizzically. "You were expecting something different?"

"Yes!" she nearly shouted. "We were comrades and crewmates, if only for a little bit, and he just abandoned us the first chance he got! It's insulting!"

Law was surprised by this outburst. He had expected Bonney of all people to be understanding, and even pull the same thing off herself, yet here she was, angered over Crocodile's sudden departure, simply because they were "comrades."

"Gotta say," Law said, adjusting his hat, "I wouldn't expect this kind of reaction from you. I assumed you'd just kinda…accept it easily."

Bonney looked as if she had just been insulted. "Who the hell do you think I am?" she asked. "You think I'm the kind of person who would just abandon her team at the drop of a hat?"

"No, that's not what I—" Law started, trying to get out of an argument.

"Well I'm not!" she yelled, cutting him off. "And I'm insulted that you'd think I'd just abandon you like that! I thought we were comrades, maybe even friends!"

"Friends?" asked Law with a look of disbelief. Who would have thought Jewelry Bonney was really like this? Certainly not Trafalgar Law.

"That's right, friends!" she repeated. "So be straight with me now, are we gonna break our pact and go back to being rivals again?"

"Well, I assumed our job was kinda done. I mean, we did find out who was capturing the Supernovas and why he was doing it, so I don't really have an interest anymore."

"Well I don't either," Bonney quickly stated. "But does that mean we have to break our alliance off and go our separate ways?"

Law looked completely surprised at this development. "Bonney," he finally started, "what are you saying?"

Bonney sighed and put a hand to her face. "Are you really that dense? I'm saying I'd like to continue our journey in the New World with our continue alliance…together."

Law couldn't help but smirk at this. Finally, he said, "While I wouldn't expect to hear that from you, I think it would be a nice change of pace, and really, who needs more enemies anyway? Why not, let's do it."

"Together?" she asked with a slightly unsure voice.

Law nodded. "Together…"

— — —

Sir Crocodile finished his current cigar, put it out, and immediately lit another one.

With an eternal pose resting close to him, he used his one good hand to steer his ship. Well, ship wouldn't be the proper word, more like a very fancy and slightly larger dinghy, complete with a small cabin to sleep in. Crocodile didn't mind; he was used to navigating and using small boats and knew how to get the most out of it.

He had stolen the boat from the docks off of Sylar City; someone would be upset that their boat was missing, but Sir Crocodile didn't care.

After the Poseidon Incident (as it would later be called), Crocodile took his time in getting everything he needed. Rations, water, an eternal pose, you name it. After acquiring his items and subsequently stealing the dinghy, he gave his note to one of Bonney's crewmen under the orders to deliver it to either her or Trafalgar Law.

Sir Crocodile knew (and he imagined Bonney and Law knew as well) that his alliance with the Supernovas, while fruitful, was not one to last. While the two Supernovas banded together for protection and a few answers, Crocodile imagined that their journey of chasing after Victor would end on the Vespian Isles. Why wouldn't they? They didn't care much for their fellow Supernovas, simply lusting after an answer, as most people would do.

Sir Crocodile, unfortunately, had a more personal stake in this hunt.

The former Shichibukai was not content in letting things be the way they were. And as much as Crocodile hated to admit it, he had grown to care (if only a little) for the two pirates captains and he didn't want to burden them any longer with his presence, that was sure to only bring unnecessary danger to them, as the Poseidon Incident had shown.

He inspected his eternal pose again, and chomped down on his cigar.

During the Poseidon Incident, while Crocodile was fighting against Aliyyah and Vendrix, he occasionally looked over to see Victor fighting against Luffy and a bit later, his grandfather Garp. He knew what Victor's powers were and that he organized the whole capture of Mr. 1 (and several other Devil Fruit-Users for that matter), and eventually saw him as his final target.

Then, he saw during his battle with Luffy and Garp, something he had vehemently hoped he wouldn't.

_(Victor, who simply leapt to dodge the strike before moving towards him, employing the power of the Dice-Dice Fruit to turn his fingers to blades)_

That one sight cemented itself in Crocodile's mind and erased all hopes that Mr. 1 was still alive.

While the hunt for Victor originally started off as somewhat of a rescue mission for Mr. 1 to Crocodile, after seeing that sight, he immediately switched its purpose from rescue to revenge. Crocodile would hunt Victor down to the ends of the earth if he had to, and now that he had a trail on him, he wouldn't let anyone stop him.

Smoke drifted from Crocodile's dwindling cigar as he inspected the eternal pose on more time to make sure he was going in the right direction.

Crocodile had to break off his pact with the Law and Bonney simply because they wouldn't want to follow him and continue to do what he had now set himself to do. The purpose had switched from rescue to revenge, and Crocodile would be damned if anyone got in the way of his revenge.

Crocodile flicked his now finished cigar into the ocean and continue on his current course. He was getting closer to Victor, he could feel it. And when he found him, he would make him wish he never even attempted to target Mr. 1.

Sir Crocodile would make sure of that.

* * *

On the hunt!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	71. The Scattering 2: Vespian Farewell

Still on the move from that battleground of death. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**71: The Scattering 2- Vespian Farewell**

Both men stared at the empty cell, each with different thoughts in their head.

"How did this happen?" grimaced Commodore Smoker.

Garp shook his head and inspected the bars. "There was no sign of forced entry; someone must have used the keys."

"And to think we put so much thought into hiding this ship so it looks like a civilian vessel," added Smoker, chomping on his two cigars in anger.

From one cell over, a gleeful voice yelled, "That's what you guys get for having such light security, hahahahahahahaha!"

Both men turned to see a clearly hysterical and delirious Basco Shot, chained up (thanks to Hina's handiwork) and still clearly wounded from his fight. "You guys really fucked up now, don'tcha think; a Yonko escaping when you had him in your sights!"

On the cell next to Basco's, the prisoner in there kicked the bars separating theirs and Basco's. "Shut the hell up," Catarina Devon said, pulling her foot back. "Bad enough we're going back to Impel Down, but you have to rave like a lunatic while doing it."

After securing Kaido in the ship, the marines took most of their men to go and search for any more pirates—particularly Blackbeard's old crew, as Garp had noted. They succeeded in finding all of them—Basco, Devon, Pizarro, and Shiryu (save for Wolf, who died when Poseidon exploded on top of him)—unconscious, making it easy pickings for Hina to capture them all.

Smoker turned to Garp as if to get some sage wisdom out of him. "So what do we do know? We have to go after him, right?"

Garp rubbed his chin thoughtfully and didn't give a reply; this seemed to anger Smoker.

"So we go after him, right?" he repeated. "He couldn't have gotten far and to let a Yonko go now would be—"

"Would be exactly what the World Government would want," Garp said, cutting him off.

"What?" barked an angered Smoker.

"Think about it," Garp explained. "The World Government has always been content with the status quo involving the Yonko. Sure, they didn't like them, but they enjoyed the stalemate all of them created in the New World, giving the World Government some kind of stability. If we were to get rid of yet _another_ Yonko, that stalemate might very well be broken, and—"

"You're not seriously suggesting we let Kaido _go_, are you?"

Garp shook his head. "I'm just speaking from the World Government's perspective, and that would certainly stop your jurisdiction, wouldn't it?"

Smoker remained silent.

"Besides," Garp continued, "think about it. Kaido was completely secured with two pairs of seastone cuffs and locked in tight, while being injured, no less; there was no way he could have escaped on his own. He had help."

"Who would help him?"

Garp closed his eyes and replied, "Think about it. Who was the one that employed Kaido in the first place on this venture, the one who was so quick to send him out to deal with the rebellion?"

One name came to Smoker's mind. "Victor…"

Garp nodded. "And you happen to know Victor's devil fruit power, right? Victor seemed all to willing to get Kaido out of the picture, so I ask you, why would Victor want to break Kaido free again, risking the lives of his own men to do it?"

Smoker got the picture. He looked at Garp in the eyes and said, "So what do you suggest we do about it?"

"Nothing," Garp bluntly replied. "Knowing Victor, he already has Kaido in his grasp and the Yonko is dead. Right now, it's more important that we ship these prisoners back to Impel Down and report on this to Sengoku right away."

Strangely enough, Smoker seemed to smile at this. "So does that mean you're coming back to the Marines?"

Garp also seemed to smile and answer, "I suppose it's better than just doing nothing, especially when all of this interesting shit is going down."

Smoker finished his two cigars and flicked them to the floor before stepping on them. He walked towards the stairs to get on the deck and said to Garp, "Let's go then; I'm sure Sengoku will be happy to hear this…"

— — —

"Well hello there Mr. Kaido, how nice to see you again," Victor said in a jovial tone as soon as Kaido (still shackled in seastones) and Benjamin boarded the ship.

Kaido simply scowled at this. "As much as I hate to admit it, thanks for breaking me out and putting me back in the game."

"Oh it was no trouble at all, I assure you," Victor said. He looked at Benjamin. "Thank you Ben, that will be all."

Benjamin shot Victor a frosty glare, which made the man seem to correct himself. "Sorry, sorry, thank you _Benjamin_."

Benjamin McAllister simply nodded and joined his fellow members of the Corps of Kings (or what remained of them anyway), and remained complacent to watch what would now happen between Victor and Kaido.

Razeden Kaido didn't like that he seemed surrounded on all sides by enemies, with Victor right across from him, no less. Regardless, he kept his cool. "So tell me Victor, what happened to Poseidon?"

For a second, Victor's face seemed to show anger, but he kept it in check before returning to his off-putting cheerful tone. "I'm afraid that that venture of ours is now impossible."

"What do you mean?" asked an incredulous Kaido.

Victor put his hands together and then separated them in a motion that signaled an explosion, even making the proper sound effects; Kaido got the message, suddenly now knowing the explosion everyone seemed to be talking about during his capture.

"You mean someone…_blew_ it up?" he finally brought himself to ask.

Victor nodded. "Sent it sky-high; trust me, I'm just as angry as you are."

Kaido reacted angrily at this. "How the hell could you let that happen? That was the one thing that would get us to One Piece, and you…you…_blew it!_"

Victor inched closer to Kaido, making the Yonko a bit uncomfortable. Surprisingly, he didn't react in anger, but only with a certain coldness and emptiness that unhinged Kaido. "It's not fair to point fingers; you're just as much to blame as me, however, it isn't that wise to be badmouthing an enemy on his territory, don'tcha think?"

Kaido began to back away, sensing Victor's malice underneath his cold expression. "Stay the hell away from me!" he finally shouted.

Victor didn't comply as he continued to move closer. "Fortunately for us, Poseidon was not the _only_ sure way to get to One Piece. Quite the contrary my dear Razeden, there are several more. Unfortunately for you, you're usefulness to us has come to an end."

Kaido continued to back away until he hit the rail of the ship and looked over, seeing only ocean that would most definitely kill him. Still being shackled to seastone cuffs, there was nothing he could do.

"I said stay the hell away!" he repeated, but Victor kept walking towards him, closing the gap between the two.

"In fact, there's only one more useful way you can help me, and that's involving your Flu-Flu Fruit."

Kaido attempted to move as Victor was only a few feet away, but a powerful blast of Haki from Victor made the Yonko suddenly freeze up. "Hold still now," he said, holding his right arm out. "This will only take a second."

Kaido could only watch in horror as Victor's hand seemed to melt effortlessly into his body, garnering a scream from him. After only three seconds, Victor yanked his arm out of Kaido's chest, revealing the Flu-Flu Fruit in his hand.

"See, now that wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked, but only saw Kaido collapse face-down on the floor. Victor shrugged at this and took a bite of the fruit. "Two Yonko's down, two to go."

The Corps of Kings watched this with interest as Daron Arkan finally asked, "You said there are other ways to get to One Piece, but I was under the impression you already knew the way to Raftel, so what exactly do we _need_ to get there other than a ship?"

Victor finished the Flu-Flu Fruit and said, "Don't worry Daron, I do know the way to Raftel, but to think getting there is just as easy as sailing there is dizzyingly naïve. No, we must prepare first before we can make our journey there."

"Prepare how?" questioned Aliyyah.

Victor smiled and said, "I'll explain it on the trip, but for now, we've gotta keep moving and put as many leagues between us and the Vespian Isles as possible."

— — —

Captain Monkey D. Luffy and his now fully reformed crew (even including Hancock) were back on the _Thousand Sunny_, and were incredibly happy to be, at that.

After their talk with Silvers Rayleigh, they had all departed to Sylar City to restock on supplies. They had finished logging the island, and were getting ready to depart, though not before checking up on Julia and Beau at their farm.

When they went there, they saw both Julia Carrison and Beau Daewn starting to rebuild the house, although it was clear they had only just begun on it. Both looked surprised to see the Straw Hat Crew there, and invited them to come and talk…

_"We had heard about Ridge," Luffy started, "and we're here to pay our respects."_

_Julia nodded and looked at Franky. "I understand that you lost a friend as well, right?"_

_Franky nodded as tears began to roll down his eyes. "Taroimo was a hero for doing what he did, no doubt, and I respect him greatly for it, just like I respect your husband Ridge."_

_Julia offered a small smile and stood up, saying, "Would you like to go and meet him now?"_

_The crew nodded as they all stood up and followed Julia to a spot no far from the farm that was being rebuilt. There, a single large jagged rock that was shaped like a headstone stuck from the ground. _

_Julia looked at them and said, "We hadn't started engraving it yet, but this is where we honor him."_

_Luffy nodded and clasped his hands together and bowed his head in reverence. There, he said, "I didn't know you very well Mr. Ridge, but I've known enough heroes to know what sacrifice means_

(an image of Shanks rescuing Luffy from the Sea King sans an arm immediately comes to mind)

_and me and my crew here would like to offer our final wishes and thanks for what you did. It was thanks to you that Victor didn't get his way, and I would just like to let you know that we're still going after him, in honor of everyone he has harmed in his venture."_

_Julia smiled at this as tears began brimming in her eyes. The rest of the crew said their thanks—some vocally, some quietly, but they all did it—and said their final goodbyes to Julia and Beau._

_"It was really nice meeting you," Luffy smiled to Julia. "And if we ever come back here again, I'd like to come and meet you again."_

_Julia nodded. "I'd like that as well…"_

"You know," Nami said, sitting on a chair in the _Sunny_, "it was only three days here, yet so much happened."

"Isn't that what it's like for most of our adventures?" Zoro asked, yet not receiving a response.

Luffy smiled and said, "It was a really interesting trip, and I really would like to come back some day."

"I think we all would," Robin added.

Sanji looked at Luffy and asked, "Time to set sail Captain? Victor's only gonna get farther and farther away."

Luffy nodded and let out a small chuckle. "Alright guys, let's set sail for another adventure!"

The crew cheered at this, as the _Thousand Sunny_ lifted anchor and began to depart from Sylar City's docks and the Vespian Isles in general.

Meanwhile, running through the massive crowds of people at Sylar City, Julia Carrison went at top speed towards the docks, hoping to catch up to the Straw Hats before they had officially departed.

_"I…I have to say one final thing to them," she explained to Beau before taking off._

She pushed through the massive volume of people, who seemed to curse at her for pushing them, but Julia didn't care. She needed to get there in time before the Straw Hats left for good.

Finally, she could see the docks, and luckily for her, the _Thousand Sunny_ wasn't that far from them, only beginning to set sail. She sprinted towards the edge of the dock and came to a complete stop right at the edge.

_"LUFFY, EVERYONE!"_ she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"What's that?" Zoro asked, as the entire crew looked to see Julia standing there.

"It's Julia!" Usopp exclaimed.

"What the hell is she doing?" inquired Franky.

Julia panted as if to catch her breath, before yelling, _"I FORGOT TO THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU DID FOR US! WITHOUT YOU AND YOUR CREW'S HELP, WE NEVER WOULD HAVE SUCCEEDED!"_

"Should we say something?" asked Chopper.

"No, this is her time to speak, not ours," Sanji said. "Right, Captain?"

He looked over at Luffy, who stared intently in Julia's direction, keeping himself quiet.

_"I GUESS I'M JUST TRYING TO SAY, THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DID! WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU!"_

Luffy had to bite his lip to keep himself from talking and let Julia finish what she had to say.

Julia's breath finally caught up to her, as she finally said, _"GOOD LUCK ON YOUR JOURNEY! I KNOW YOU CAN BEAT VICTOR!"_

Luffy couldn't contain himself any longer, as he opened his mouth and yelled back, _"BE SURE TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, OKAY? AND THANK _YOU_ FOR ALL THE HELP YOU'VE BEEN! WE'LL NEVER FORGET YOU EITHER!"_

Julia smiled at this, tears willfully flowing down her cheeks, as she nodded, and quietly said, "Uh-huh…"

Then, Luffy turned towards the rest of his crew and said, "Come on! Let's go and find Victor!"

The entire crew cheered yet again, and with that, the _Thousand Sunny_ departed from the Vespian Isles for good, in hopes of catching up to Victor and putting an end to his madness.

They owed that to Ridge, and to everyone else who was affected by Victor's actions.

* * *

Departing at last from that island in the New World...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	72. The Eternal Pose Mystery

Back to the norm? Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**72: The Eternal (Pose) Mystery**

"Robiiiiiiiiiiiiiin, perhaps you would like to test out this new recipe I found on Fishman Island!" Sanji swooned to the raven-haired crewmate.

Nico Robin was currently sitting on the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_ on a lawn chair with a book in her hand. Her eyes lazily swept back and forth and occasionally she turned the page. When Sanji called her name, she looked up and saw him coming over with a large platter in his hand and an even larger grin on his face.

Robin smiled back as Sanji lowered the platter down to her level. She inspected it and saw several appetizer-sized portions of what appeared to be shrimp put on top of some other kind of seafood with a hefty portion of herbs, spices, and sauces poured over it. She saw all of this, and then looked back up at Sanji again.

"What is it?"

"It's Fishman Island shrimp put on top of a rare albino tuna—found only on Fishman Island, of course—covered in several different types of spices the Fishmen chefs are known for!" Sanji beamed. "And may I also add…that it's made with love!"

He winked at Robin.

Unfortunately for the Chef, Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Brook caught wind of this and immediately rushed over, hoping for the promise of food. "That sounds really good!" Luffy said, sprinting from the other side of the deck towards Sanji. "You gotta let me have some of it!"

"Stay back you cretins!" Sanji bellowed, throwing a kick in their direction. "This is made specifically for a lady's pallet, however Luffy, if Hancock would like some…"

Hancock, who was sitting on the other side of the _Thousand Sunny_, heard this and looked at Sanji with an incredulous look. "As if I'd eat anything a man had prepared."

While this exchange went on, Robin grabbed a portion off the platter and took a bite. After swallowing it, she looked up at Sanji and smiled. "Thank you, it's quite good."

Sanji took this ecstatically and almost seemed to float away from her with a goofy grin plastered on his face. "Thank you Robin, I knew you would taste the amount of love I put into that dish!"

"Hey Sanji, this is pretty good," Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, and Brook all said at the same time a few feet away from him, munching on what he just gave Robin nonchalantly.

"Ah!" Sanji exclaimed, looking at the platter to see half of the food on it missing. "When did you thieves steal my food made of love?"

Brook pointed to Luffy and stated, "He just stretched and stole some while you were busy swooning over that compliment."

"And I don't taste any love, but it still tastes good regardless!" Luffy said with a smile.

"Of course you shouldn't taste the love!" stated Sanji before storming away. "Only women can taste the unrequited love I put into each and every dish I prepare!"

Nami, who had just come out of the field of tangerines on the second level of the _Sunny_, looked over the railing down below and called, "Hey Sanji, can I have some of that? I'm really hungry from working!"

Sanji complied immediately, his right eye turning into a heart. "Of course Nami! A fine woman like yourself shouldn't be working, though. That's made for the witless beasts!"

Sanji glanced at Zoro, who was on the deck lifting massive amounts of weights. He looked up at Sanji after seeing this and said, "The hell did you just say, Love Cook?"

Nami took a portion off the platter as Sanji looked down at Zoro and said, "You know exactly what I said, Marimo, unless you're too witless to understand!"

Zoro scowled, but brushed the comment off, deciding his weights needed his attention more than Sanji. Nami finished her food and said, "Thanks Sanji, that's really good."

She walked down the steps onto the deck and continued, "We're right on course. I'm gonna go into my room and change. Until then, don't do anything to throw this ship off course."

"Need any help changing?" Sanji asked, leaping down the steps after her.

"Uh…no thanks," she quickly said before speeding off inside of the ship.

Sanji appeared depressed as Brook walked over to him and said, "Don't worry about it. You'll see her panties another day."

"I'm not a pervert like you!" Sanji exclaimed, throwing a kick towards the skeleton, who simply dodged and leapt away. "I'm a romantic, who just isn't understood by simple-minded brutes like yourself."

"Hey," Luffy said, "I'm not simple—zzz…"

He appeared to have fallen asleep while talking, prompting Usopp to hit him in the back of his head, waking him up instantly.

"—minded!" he finished before looking around in a confused fashion.

Usopp sighed and said, "In your case Luffy, I think Sanji's assessment is correct. By the way, can I have some more of that food?"

"Hell no! Wait until dinner!" stated an aggravated Sanji.

The _Thousand Sunny_ was about half a day out of the Vespian Isles, yet despite the great weather, Nami still said it would take about two more days to get to the next island, where they hoped to catch Victor.

Suddenly, Nami burst out from the _Sunny_ (with a new change of clothes, as she promise) with a strange look on her face.

"What's up, Nami?" Chopper asked in a concerned tone.

Nami looked around and saw that only Franky wasn't on the deck with them. She said to Usopp, "Go and get Franky, and everyone needs to meet in the dining room for this; this is important!"

Usopp soon brought Franky out from his room and the entire Straw Hat Crew met in the dining room of the _Thousand Sunny_. Finally, Zoro had to ask, "What's the problem Nami?"  
Nami moved her hand that was behind her back and brought it down onto the table. She moved it to reveal that there was an object there now. "I found this in my room," she said, as everyone looked to see what it was.

"An eternal pose?" Franky asked, looking up. "So what?"

Nami picked up the eternal pose she had just set on the table and said to the cyborg, "An eternal pose that I didn't buy, nor was it ever on our ship before we landed on the Vespian Isles."

"So someone put it in your room when we weren't on the ship?" questioned Usopp.

Nami nodded. "Whoever put it there must have known that I was the navigator and they clearly didn't go to any lengths to hide it, as it was the first thing I noticed when I went in there."

"A strange occurrence indeed," Brook said, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.

Nami looked at it again and then put it back down on the table. "Now look at what is written on the top of it."

Luffy picked it up and read the single word on it: "Baltigo."

Robin immediately snapped forward and joined in the conversation. "Does it really say Baltigo, the Land of the White Soil?" she asked.

Luffy nodded. "What's so important about this place?"

Robin leaned back, ran a hand through her hair, sighed, and finally said, "Baltigo is known for its tall spires of white rocks, constant breezes, and strange white soil, yet what it's best known by is that it's the main base of the Revolutionaries."

Everyone reacted almost immediately. "You mean that's where Dragon resides?" asked Sanji.

Robin nodded.

"You mean my Dad?" Luffy asked lazily, picking his nose. "Why would he put an eternal pose on our ship?"

"I'm guessing he wants us to go and meet him," Boa Hancock said, "but I don't know exactly why."

Robin then spoke. "Dragon's been involved in this ever since we got separated. He partly took part in getting us back together and getting me, Chopper, Brook, and Franky from Sabaody all the way to the Vespian Isles."

Chopper, Franky, and Brook all nodded in agreement with this. "Although I haven't seen Splint, Inazuma, or Ivankov since they left us with Beau," Franky added. "It was probably them who left the eternal pose here."

"So Dragon knows what's going on, great," Zoro said. "But I thought he was focusing on the World Government. Why would he be focusing on us instead of his own objective?"

"I don't think Luffy being his son has anything to do with it," Robin stated. "He never really showed much interest in us _before_ all of this happened."

Luffy nodded. "That's right, I didn't even know who my father was until Grandpa told me at Water 7; I don't even really know what he looks like."

"But that still doesn't explain _why_ Dragon wants us to go to Baltigo now," Sanji stated, bringing the conversation back on track.

"I might have a theory," Robin said.

Everyone looked at her. "Well, what is it?" asked Chopper.

"Ever since I was traveling with Splint—one of Dragon's revolutionaries," she explained, "he has given me several hints that Dragon knows about history. It's might be possible that Dragon wants us to know something important involving the Poneglyphs."

"Maybe…" Nami said. "I think, however, we should operate under the basis that Dragon knows who Victor is, and probably doesn't like him that much—if only because he tried to kill Luffy."

"So it could also be to let us know about Victor, or maybe even help us," stated Zoro. "I don't know how likely that is, but Dragon does seem like an unpredictable man."

Robin nodded. "It could be one of those reasons…maybe even _both_, or it could be something that we wouldn't even cross our mind. The only way to find out would be to go there ourselves."

Nami looked at Robin and asked, "Where exactly is Baltigo?"

"It's in the later half of the New World," Hancock said, deciding to answer for Robin. "Not that close to Raftel, but a good deal into the New World. With the eternal pose, however, we can bypass all the islands before it and very well be on our way to One Piece."

Everyone turned to Luffy to expect him to be excited about this information involving One Piece, but surprisingly, he had a serious look on his face. "What about Victor then?" he finally asked. "Are we just gonna give up chasing him?"

No one spoke to this, as apparently none of the Straw Hats had considered this yet. Finally, after several seconds of silence, someone spoke.

"Well, think about it this way Luffy," Nami said. "Dragon obviously isn't ignorant to what Victor has been doing, and I'm sure he'd be willing to help us with that information anyway."

"Plus," Hancock added, "that old man Rayleigh said that Victor's goal was to get to One Piece, and this is almost a sure way to get ahead of and intercept him. So cheer up."

"Also," added Usopp, "we might run into him while following the eternal pose."

Zoro tapped his swords together and finally decided to ask, "So what's the call Captain? Do we chase after Victor, or do we go and meet your father?"

Surprisingly, Luffy smiled and said, "Going to meet my Dad sure does sound like an adventure, and we'd be closer to One Piece than Victor is. I say we follow the eternal pose."

Everyone seemed to get behind him and cheered, as Nami brought attention back to them, picking up the eternal pose and walking towards the door. "Come on then, we gotta change course if we're heading over to Baltigo! Everyone out on the deck now! No time to waste!"

Everyone got up and followed, save for Sanji who stayed behind and said, "I'll make you some food to keep your navigating skills up Nami, and I'll be sure to put some extra love into it!"

— — —

Wind blew harshly on the white-capped peaks of Baltigo, yet Splint, Ivankov, and Inazuma paid it no mind, as they were used to such things.

They had landed on the Revolutionary's island just now, following the eternal pose they've had since the beginning. They left both the Revolutionary and Newkama crews to go to the barracks and assimilate back into the revolutionary army, while the three leaders climbed the winding staircase on one particular spire that contained a large castle on it.

They walked towards the two massive doors to see two revolutionaries standing guard there. "Stop," one said, raising his rifle. "Who goes there?"

Splint smiled through his cigarette smoke as he tipped his bucket hat and said, "Just tell the Boss his favorite revolutionary has arrived."

Ivankov couldn't help but laugh at this. "As if he likes you the best, Splint-Boy. No one in their right mind would think you're a good person."

"Shut up!" he responded comically, looking up at the okama.

Suddenly, the two guards knew who all three of them were. "Commander Ivankov, Commander Inazuma, Commander Splint, we didn't know you got back. Our apologies for not recognizing you."

Splint took a puff on his cigarette and said, "Don't worry about it. Can ya let us in now though? This wind's startin' to bother me."

The doors opened and the three revolutionaries walked inside. Going up the stairs and hanging a quick right, they walked into the room they were looking for. Inside, several high-ranking revolutionaries were sitting down on scattered tables, talking on den-den mushi's, or scribbling down on paper.

Most looked up languidly at the three before going back to their own business. Splint seemed depressed by the lack of response as he half-heartedly raised a hand in greeting. "So where's the Boss?" he asked.

One revolutionary pointed out to the door on the opposite side of the room, which led out to the balcony. Splint sighed and said, "Of course he's there; he's always there…"

Ivankov, Splint, and Inazuma walked through the door and were met by the howling wind again. There, they saw Dragon with his cloaked back facing towards them. Dragon was staring eastward, like usual.

"Dragon," Ivankov said, arousing his attention. "It's been a long time since we've seen each other again; I was getting tired of just hearing your voice over a den-den mushi."

Monkey D. Dragon turned around and saw them. He smiled easily and said, "Welcome back, all of you. How does it feel to be home again?"

"Feels good," Inazuma said.

"Good, good," Dragon said, moving closer to the three. He smiled even bigger this time and finally said, "So tell me everything that happened while you were with my son and his crew…"

* * *

The Revolutionaries are beginning to act...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	73. The Harvester

Plagued by nightmares in the dark... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**73: The Harvester**

Over and over in his mind, the nightmares continued to come back to Victor. It was always the same, although each one had a different variation. He was standing on top of a mountain, a mountain of gold, as it seemed. Upon further inspection, he had found that he was standing on top of One Piece.

From this view, Victor looked into the distance and saw exactly what he wanted: several pirate galleons exploding in the water, while behind that, several pirate bases on islands were exploding as flames and smoke and rubble was all that remained of them. He could hear the collected screams of the cataclysmic events victims, and that only brought a smile to Victor D. Capere's face.

Then, the bad thoughts came.

The visions of the wanton destruction began to fade in the distance, while beneath him, the mountain of gold began to melt, leaving him falling to the floor. Then, the sense of cold came over him. Oh, how Victor loathed that feeling of cold, yet could do nothing to dispel it.

He looked up to see the newest variation of his dream. San Juan Wolf was looming right in front of him, looking as if to taunt him, while on his back was the warship Poseidon. On top of the ship, William Helmont was at the head, while behind him were Shiryu, Devon, Basco, and Pizarro, all clearly looking down on Victor with sneers on their faces.

_"Hey Boss!"_ William called down. _"Why didn'tcha do a better job of protecting Poseidon? We all risked our lives for it, ya know."_

_"I…I…"_ was all Victor could mutter, leaving the group to all laugh at his incompetence.

_"Poor old Victor…not even able to protect one ship," _William continued to jeer._ "What's wrong? Were the big bad marines and pirates too much for ya to handle?"_

_"Shut up!"_ Victor roared to the laughing group, yet they wouldn't cease.

Then, the ship exploded, wiping William and company all away from his mind, leaving Victor alone again with that same cold feeling.

Victor stood there powerless, rooted on the ground, when massive footsteps began to rumble underneath him. He looked up to see a giant form of Luffy, a massive grin on his face and his trademark straw hat on his head.

_"I'm comin' after ya Victor,"_ the massive Luffy smirked. _"And there's nothin' you can do to stop me this time."_

Victor reacted angrily as he lashed out against the giant. _"I'll show you Straw Hat! I'm gonna bring an end to the Age of Piracy once and for all, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!"_

Luffy's grin persisted as he tipped his hat down and rose up his foot, bringing it right over Victor. _"But that's where you're wrong,"_ he chuckled. _"I can stop you quite easily!"_

Victor could only scream as Luffy's foot came crashing down on him…

— — —

Victor D. Capere shot awake, his eyes wide, sweating, panting, and that same cold feeling still washing over him. He looked around and saw that nightfall was overhead on the deck, yet despite this, all of his remaining crew was still awake (save for Daron, who always took frequent naps when he could).

Benjamin, in particular, first noticed this and asked, "You alright there, partner?"

Victor quickly rose, shivered for a second, and brushed the comment off by hastily saying, "I'm fine, I'm fine; just had a bad dream, that's all."

"A bad dream, eh?" chuckled Vendrix. "You know some people take those as foreshadowing of what's to come."

"Well it's a good thing," Victor responded coolly, "I'm not superstitious then, isn't it?"

"That's right, that's right," Kaede smirked, "Victor the skeptic and cynic; nothing but a man who doesn't believe in dreams or adventure."

"Last time I checked," Kenji interjected, "we were _all_ like that."

Victor smiled. "Thank you Kenji, that is correct, which is why I chose you all as my personal team to carry out my plan." He looked up at Tobias, who was currently steering the ship. "How's our timetable lookin'?"

Tobias inspected the log pose on his arm and replied, "We should arrive at Nazgan Island tomorrow morning, if the weather keeps up like this."

"Excellent," Victor said, rubbing his hands together. "Once we recruit _him_, we'll be one step closer to One Piece."

"Recruit who, if I may ask," a voice behind him said.

He turned around to see Daron Arkan standing there with a sleepy look on his face. He rubbed his eyes and added, "You guys should be quieter while talking; I was having a nice sleep."

"More than someone else can say," Vendrix snickered.

Aliyyah, picking up on Daron's point, seemed to persist with it. "Yeah, who exactly are we going to be meeting, and for what purpose do we need to see him? You know, for your 'personal team to carry out your plan,' you sure don't tell us a lot of what we're gonna do. I mean, all I know is that we're heading out to One Piece, but that's it."

"I fill you in on the plan as we go along," Victor replied. "It's best that way, so no real leaks are made and you're still kept in the loop as much as possible—of course I'd trust you not to spill anything anyways, but it's always best to be cautious."

"So tell us then," Kaede said. "Who are we going to see, and what preparations need to be made for us to get to One Piece."

Victor sighed and said, "Alright, but one part at a time. We're going to see a resident on Nazgan Island by the name of Bennett Morris, nicknamed the Harvester. He's an old…shall we say, acquaintance of mine, but he's best known as a top-notch bounty hunter and shipwright."

"Shipwright?" questioned Daron. "We're doing all this to get a ship? What's wrong with the one Tobias dreamed up that we're on now?"

"While I certainly trust Tobias and his powers, even I know that nothing he dreams up can last forever, isn't that right?" Victor looked up at the Dreamer.

Tobias nodded. "While it's pretty simple to dream up a ship, it slowly but surely drains my energy and when I run out, this ship disappears, and we all fall into the ocean with it, and that's assuming I'm not dreaming anything else up as well."

"Why go and see a shipwright at all?" asked Kenji. "Can't we just steal a ship, then?"

Victor held up his index finger and asked, "Ever hear of Adam Wood?"

"You mean a tree made of the strongest wood in the world," said Benjamin. "Everyone's heard of it, partner."

"Back on my home island known as Ladaka Isle, we were famous for the type of trees we grew called Ortan Trees," explained Victor. "Every time you cut them down, they just grew back a little faster and stronger than before. Yet even the oldest and most cut down tree on the island couldn't match the quality an Adam Tree has."

"So we're going to this Bennett guy, who has a ready supply of Adam Wood?" asked Aliyyah.

Victor shook his head. "Not quite. See, that's where the preparation part comes in. But Bennett is the best shipwright I've ever known, so if anyone can make a ship out of that type of wood, it's him."

"Is there a particular reason why we need it to be made out of Adam Wood?" Vendrix asked.

Victor took a second to answer before finally saying, "Let's just say getting to Raftel isn't as easy as just sailing to it. You'll need an incredibly strong ship to withstand the trials of getting to it. I originally planned on using Poseidon to get there, since it's made of Adam Wood as well, but since that didn't work out, we're gonna have to improvise some."

"Trials?" inquired Kaede. "What sort of trials?"

Victor smirked at this as he said, "Now telling you that would ruin all the fun. Just know for now that any ship that's not made of Adam Wood that attempts to get to Raftel, most likely wouldn't last that long."

The Corps of Kings sighed as they knew they couldn't get anymore out of their still somewhat mysterious leader.

"Regardless," Victor said to the group, "we'll see Bennett by morning tomorrow, and I would suggest you let me do all the talking with him. For now, though, let's get some sleep. Tobias, if you like, I'll take over navigating the ship."

"That would be acceptable," Tobias said before stepping away from the steering wheel…

Later that night, while Victor was quietly steering the ship and everyone else was asleep, he thought of his recurring nightmares again, but pushed it out of his mind and assured himself that he would succeed in his plan and put an end to piracy once and for all.

— — —

The ship was docked at Nazgan Island without any problems. Fortunately for Victor, the route he had taken to get to this island differed from those who were trying to look for him

_(Straw Hat and Crocodile)_

allowing them to not have any conflicts along the way.

The island itself was rather small and not known for anything in particular. It had a few scattered villages here and there, but its large amount of woodlands, fields, and fertile grounds made it a perfect farming island. A small government existed, but it never really did much, and due to its size and its out-of-the-way route, it didn't attract much attention to pirates.

The group walked off the ship, as Victor looked at Tobias. "You can get rid of it now, we won't be needing it anymore."

Tobias nodded, and as soon as that happened, the ship seemed to completely fade away into nothingness. The group didn't spare this a thought as they all turned away and began to follow Victor towards where Bennett Morris supposedly lived.

After about an hour of traversing the island, they came across a large amount of open field with a house and what appeared to be a large workshop next to it. The field was littered with scraps of wood, partially-constructed ships, and a scattering of tools.

Victor stopped the group and said, "Just as I thought, and just as unchanged as it was when I last saw it. Let's go, but remember to be polite."

They walked closer to the workshop to see its large double wooden doors open. Inside, they saw a man sitting at a desk facing away from them. Surrounding him were all manners of tools and equipment that most of the Corps of Kings couldn't even begin to understand what their applications were for.

Victor told the group to wait as he boldly strode into the workshop, raising his hand and said, "Hey Bennett, guess who's here?"

Bennett Morris the Harvester reacted almost immediately, reaching behind his desk and grabbing a large fearsome-looking black double-headed battleaxe and turning around, holding it close to Victor, who was now only inches away.

Victor raised his hands in surprise and said, "Whoa, whoa, what kind of reaction is that to and old friend?"

Bennett laughed and spat onto the floor. "Don't give me that shit Victor! You got a lotta balls comin' back here to meet me…especially after what we've been thorough together."

Bennett looked to be about Victor's age and was a respectable five-eleven. He was a little bulky and had a large amount of scruff growing from his face and his eyes were a dark brown. He dressed rather plainly, wearing a simple pair of brown pants, black shoes, a short-sleeve green t-shirt, and a brown vest that was open. His most noticeable feature, however, was that he wore a light-brown flat cap over his head that had black-and-gray curly hair coming from underneath it.

Vendrix chuckled and said to Victor's back, "Hey Victor, I thought you were on good terms with this guy!"

"I thought I was too," Victor replied light-heartedly.

Bennett gave off a small chuckle and said, "Well that's a pretty nice thing to tell your crew, conveniently leaving out the whole abandoning part."

"I didn't abandon you and you know it," Victor said, still holding his hands up. "We were both offered to be a part of Gold Roger's crew, and you just happened to turn it down."

"Probably because I didn't want to betray every fucking principle I ever had!" replied Bennett, moving the axe slightly closer to Victor's throat.

"What the hell is he talking about?" called Benjamin.

Bennett looked past Victor and smiled at the Corps of Kings. "He didn't tell you? Me and this guy were bounty hunter partners back in the day, until he decided to leave me to go and join Gold Roger's crew after we tried to capture his head one day!"

Victor looked back to the group and added, "I'll tell ya some other time."

Bennett booted Victor in his exposed chest and sent him to the floor. "I don't know if you've heard or not Victor old buddy, but you have got quite a bounty on your head yourself these days."

Victor didn't get up as he looked back and said, "I'd imagine I do, after what I did. So how much am I worth?"

"325 million," said Bennett. "I don't know what the hell you did, but the Marines must really be pissed at you."

"I guess you could say that," Victor said. "Look Bennett, I'm not here to try and fight you. I came here because I need your help."

"Let me guess, you need a ship," Bennett said. "Well if you can pay, I'd be happy to make you one."

Victor got to his feet now and said, "I'll give you as much as you want."

Bennett laughed at this. "Come on Victor, we both know you never had much money on you. How much can you promise me?"

"How about a portion of One Piece?"

Bennett stopped. "You're saying you know where that legendary treasure is?"

Victor nodded with a smile. "I was there when Gold Roger put it all there, remember? Problem is, I need a strong ship to get there, and I know you're just the man to do it."

"I'm running a little low on supplies right now," Bennett replied. "But I can always whip together a nice ship for ya."

Victor shook his head. "No, for this specific ship, we're gonna need some Adam Wood."

Bennett nearly burst out laughing, and in fact he did after a few seconds. When he calmed down, he said, "Well fuck man, does it look like I have a ready supply of Adam Wood with me?"

"I didn't expect you to," Victor replied coolly. "That's where we all come in."

"You're saying you know where to get some Adam Wood? I hope you have a lot of money on ya, cause the Black Market doesn't sell that shit cheap."

"Why settle for just some wood," smiled Victor, "when you can have the whole tree."

Bennett looked at Victor skeptically. "You know where we can find an Adam Tree?"

Victor nodded. "All we need is your help in securing and building it, and One Piece will be in our grasp."

"And where, pray tell, is this Adam Tree that apparently no one has found yet?" Bennett found himself asking.

"On an island that goes by the name of Foodvalten…" replied Victor.

* * *

Brownbeard?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	74. A Crocodile in Wano

Sir Crocodile tracking Victor! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**74: A Crocodile in Wano**

The Vespian Isles were known for more than just its tribal history, massive isles connected by bridges, bustling commercialism (at least in regards to the previous four islands), and most recently, its revelation as the holder of Poseidon. 

It carried a nickname by most navigators (at least those who knew what they were doing). Like the first half of the Grand Line, there are different paths that can be taken in the New World; more specifically four. Unlike the Grand Line, however, there is only one way to enter the New World, which is through Fishman Island. Due to this difference, the paths do not branch off right away.

In fact every pirate has to go through five islands before they have a choice of where to go. Immediately after the Vespian Isles, the routes branch off into four separate paths and the captain of each crew can make their choice. Due to the Vespian Isles being the focal point of this change, navigators have given it the nickname of the Scattering Point, since right after it, crews have a choice to separate from their once-linear path.

After the New World is traversed, however, all four routes convene back (known as the Convergence Point) together and all crews that make it that far have to go through the final three islands, the last of which obviously being Raftel.

For the Straw Hat Crew, after choosing to follow the eternal pose to Baltigo, they immediately followed a different route than the one they were currently on. Victor's crew also chose a route usually less taken to get to Nazgan Island, and eventually Foodvalten.

For Sir Crocodile, however, he chose the most popular route thinking that Victor would take the same route, not knowing of his plans to meet up with Bennett. Due to this, Crocodile had not seen any sign of Victor, and it seemed as if his trail had run cold. Scowling inwardly, he docked his boat on the second island of that particular route, well known as Wano Country, the land where dragons reign.

Calling the land of Wano a _country_ was a bit of an overstatement. It was certainly no Alabasta (which Crocodile knows quite well) in terms of size, and seemed to be a little smaller than all of the isles on Vespian put together. Yet, in its ancient day of samurais and limited knowledge of the world, it was known as a country due to its respectable size and was called Wano Country, which seemed to stick and was what the country was then known by.

Aside from the legend of the samurai known as Ryuuma slaying a dragon in the past, Wano Country was known for having an old-time feudal feel in architectural design. Despite the ancient look, Wano was a successful island with a large amount of commercialism (aided by tourists wanting to see the architecture) and trade.

This was just the type of island Crocodile was looking for.

He stepped off his pitiful excuse for a ship and looked around the docks. He smiled to himself over this; just as he expected. Surrounding him was a large amount of galleons and pirate ships. Crocodile—similarly to Victor (albeit unknown, and if it was known, it would be to Crocodile's chagrin)—found that he lacked the proper type of vessel to continue into the New World and give Victor the proper chase he desired.

He knew he wouldn't be able to navigate one of those ships on his own, and even with one of the smaller ships he would need at least two people to man it. Crocodile's best bet was to hopefully find another notable pirate crew and sail with them or stowaway on their ship if necessary.

Crocodile lit himself a new cigar and pushed the thought out of his mind for now. He walked away from the docks and more towards the more populated area known as Flare Village.

Crocodile knew that most of Wano Country was fields and mountains, the most populated areas being on the seaside where ships were docked. He also knew that Flare Village was the most populated and popular stop for Wano Country, which was ideal for him in two ways.

Firstly, it would enable him to ask around about Victor and hopefully pick up some new clues, and secondly, it would allow him to scope around for the best pirate crew he could find to tag along with.

Crocodile's cigar smoke drifted upwardly as he walked down the crowded streets and pushed past the tourists. He eventually laid his sights on a rather elaborate-looking restaurant that was larger than most buildings around. It, too, had the feudal look to it, and the massive title let him know it was simply called Restaurant Gèrard. Shrugging, Crocodile entered the restaurant, thinking it to be his best chance of finding either notable pirates or clues of Victor.

He followed a kind-looking female host to his booth, where he sat and waited for his waiter to come. The inside of the restaurant, unlike the outside, had a very modern look to it. It had darkened lights, interesting art on the wall, and comfortable booths that most restaurants didn't have the luxury of having.

He could also tell that his was most likely the most successful shop in Flare Village, as it was packed full of everyone imaginable: noble or pirate alike. Not much trouble was caused, and it looked like everyone was just having a good time. Crocodile also noted how the food looked quite good and its smell made his own stomach growl. Several days of going only off of rations didn't do him well.

Eventually, the waitress came and asked for his order. Crocodile ordered some wine along with the house seafood special (Trefin Whale, it was called), and the waitress said she'd be back soon with his drink.

Sir Crocodile slumped back into his seat and put out his now-finished cigar on the ashtray which the restaurant seemed to provide on the table. He scouted around for pirates, and came across a few crews. However, they didn't immediately leap into his head so he guessed their infamy and prestige didn't follow them (if it even existed at all). Crocodile sighed as he knew none of them had the talents that Law and Bonney had.

The waitress came back and put a bottle of wine on the table. Crocodile poured some and decided to ask her, "Did you happen to see any strange-looking guys walking through, particularly one with gray hair?"

"We get a lot of strange-looking guys around here," the waitress responded. "This place seems _always_ seems to have been a place where suspicious-looking pirates and such gather."

"Always?" asked Crocodile. "How long has this place been around?"

"Restaurant Gèrard has been around for more than a hundred years," the waitress responded rather proudly. "In fact, this was the place where the legendary samurai Ryuuma wandered in and befriended a waitress and our then future mayor Flare."

"You mean the tale about the dragon? What foolish notions…" Crocodile scoffed.

The waitress, apparently very proud of Wano's history, took offense to this and said, "Hey, it's true that dragons exist here. They live up in the mountains and have been spotted several times, though attacks on any villages on the seaside are usually very rare."

Crocodile chuckled as he took a sip of his wine. "Of course 'dragons' exist here, but everyone knows that they're not really dragons, but rather large reptiles capable of flight. It's a ridiculous notion to think that a single samurai could slay one, though."

The waitress paused for a second, before saying, "Regardless, this restaurant was in its humble beginnings then, and after the incident involving Ryuuma—whether it be true or false—the waitress Flare seemed to rise in popularity and subsequently in political power; she eventually became the mayor and ushered in a new age of prosperity for the village, who was so thankful they renamed themselves after her."

"Now that is interesting," Crocodile said, taking another sip of his wine.

"Indeed," the waitress responded. "And with the new prosperity, Flare Village grew in size and wealth and eventually remodeled itself to this old-time feudal look to honor its heritage, and wouldn't ya know it, Restaurant Gèrard became the most popular place in town, probably because of Flare's origins."

Crocodile nodded. "Thanks for the history lesson, I really enjoyed it. Now I'll take that as a long answer to: 'No, I haven't seen any strange-looking groups around here'."

"Well _excuse me_ for trying to give you a little bit of our culture," the waitress said, looking quite offended before walking off.

Crocodile's food came a little later, and he took his time to enjoy it (as his rumbling stomach pleaded him to). After eavesdropping on a particularly loud pirate captain about their next voyage, Crocodile knew finding a crew that would get him where he needed to go alive was getting slimmer and slimmer.

He finished his food and paid his bill, getting ready to leave (and lighting a new cigar, of course), when there suddenly came a loud roaring and rumbling, getting everyone's attention in the restaurant. Crocodile stood up and, like almost everyone else in the restaurant, went outside to see what was going on.

He rushed out the restaurant and looked to see a sight he would probably never see again. People on the streets fled in horror as a massive blue dragon

_(they're not really dragons, but rather large reptiles capable of flight)_

hovering over the town with a menacing look on its face. It let out a massive roar and immediately grabbed the top of a building with its four powerful claws and ripped the top off completely, taking almost half the building with it. It let out another roar and immediately chucked the debris towards everyone, landing rather close to Crocodile and scattering the group as they joined the terrified masses in running away.

Crocodile wasn't frightened by the presence of the beast (his logia-like powers saving him the embarrassment of fear), but regardless decided to stand by and see how the enforcers of Flare Village dealt with such a threat.

The enforcers came in the form of a battalion of policeman, sporting fancy brown uniforms and caps, each wielding a rifle and sword if necessary. They all immediately fired on the beast, and while Crocodile did see blood come from its flesh, he could tell they didn't bother him much.

Rather, the dragon responded angrily and sped towards the police with its mouth open and claws ready to shred. They scattered almost immediately and tried to regroup, firing a few more shots, but ultimately failed as the dragon took a few policemen, sending the rest to turn tail and run.

Crocodile sighed as he knew he would probably have to step in and save the town. He was, however, surprised by the lack of pirates attempting to kill the beast and imagined most of them had turned tail and became cowards as well. This thought disgusted Sir Crocodile, and it simply solidified in his mind that no pirate in this village would be able to take him where he needed to.

Crocodile sighed as he began to summon a small whirlwind in his hand in an attempt to use Sables on the beast, but stopped almost immediately when he saw an even stranger sight than the dragon itself.

As if by magic, one of the massive claws of the dragon seemed to separate from his body and fall to the floor in a heap, blood spraying from the newly-acquired wound. The dragon roared in pain at this when suddenly its tail was the next to go, sending more fountains of blood to pour from his body. The dragon looked around skeptically with fear and pain clearly in its eyes, but before anything else could be done, its head was cleanly severed from his body and also fell to the floor, followed by its body, spasmodically twitching every few seconds before finally laying dead on the ground.

Sir Crocodile was about to go in and investigate, when he suddenly heard a few voices pop up.

"Damn, that was nice Captain, taking out a dragon like that as if it was nothing," one voice said.

Then, a strangely-familiar voice popped up. "They're not dragons you fool. Dragons are what you call a mythical creature. Scientists have already determined that this is a ferocious reptile capable of flight."

The same voice then sounded apologetic. "Sorry Captain, you're right."

"If any of you are so easy to fall to such wild dreams and fantasies," the familiar voice said, "I have no use for you under my command."

Then a babble of voices came saying that they agreed with their captain.

"Fufufufu, good," the familiar voice of the captain said. "The New Age is upon us my loyal followers, and soon no one will believe in such ridiculous fantasies like dragons existing ever again!"

That struck some kind of chord with Crocodile, and he immediately went to go and investigate. He quietly snuck around the side of the building and peeked his head around to see who was standing there. After only a glance, he knew immediately who it was; there was no way he could mistake it.

Standing there, covered in dragons blood, was none other than Donquixote Doflamingo.

* * *

Back into the game?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	75. A Crocodile in Wano 2: Flamingo Stowaway

Donquixote Doflamingo's sudden return! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**75: A Crocodile in Wano 2- Flamingo Stowaway**

"Fufufu, this is the power of the New Age," Doflamingo chuckled kicking the carcass of the dragon. "Only the strong will survive in the New World and will have the power to make up the rules!"

Sir Crocodile almost sighed at this new development. What was Donquixote Doflamingo of all people doing at Wano Country? He chomped down slightly on his cigar as he surveyed his surroundings. Surrounding Doflamingo was clearly a crew, yet the Doflamingo Crocodile knew almost never needed a crew since becoming a Shichibukai.

Did Doflamingo lose his rank as a Shichibukai?

Crocodile's fertile mind concluded that it certainly was possible, especially after the Whitebeard War and how he seemed to only watch with mild amusement. It was clear that neither Sengoku, nor the World Government would be pleased with how any of the Shichibukai acted. Either Doflamingo left of his own will, he was discharged and returned to pirating, or he decided to sport around a crew now on what seemed to be official Shichibukai business.

Disgust flashed through Crocodile's mind as he imagined it was either the first or second option, and he thought that if it was the second, Doflamingo would have left some damage behind him.

Then an even worse thought popped into his head: Doflamingo was the best option he had of catching Victor.

As much as he hated to admit it, Doflamingo was a hardened New World veteran, well-versed in its surroundings and islands. He was an expert navigator and a heavyweight fighter to boot. Indeed, if anyone had heard on the whereabouts of Victor in the New World (at least on this island, anyway), it would be Doflamingo.

As Crocodile began to survey his new options in his head, the residents of Flare Village decided to stop being cowards and show up to personally thank Doflamingo for slaying the dragon. They mostly gathered around him and his crew, keeping a respectable distance and speaking in hushed whispers about what Doflamingo had just done.

Finally, what looked to be the chief of the police stepped forward, extending a hand at a clearly amused Doflamingo.

"Thank you," the Chief said. "The citizens of Flare Village truly owe you their lives."

"Fufufu, is that so?" chuckled Doflamingo. "Well if the citizens lives depended on it…you should have done better on defending them!"

The Chief let out a massive roar of pain as with the flick of Doflamingo's finger, his extended hand was severed in an instant, falling to the floor as easily as the dragon did. Following it was a fountain of blood. The distraught Chief dropped to his knees, while the remaining citizens began to scatter in fear.

Doflamingo laughed and threw up his arms in a grand fashion. "That's right, fear the power of the New Age! Only the strong survive, and I'm afraid it looks like you villagers just won't cut it, fufufufu!"

When it was clear, Doflamingo began to walk away from the crime scene and the still-wailing police chief and said to his men, "Come on, let's get out of this shithole. It's clear they won't adhere to my philosophy, so there's no point in even trying to change their ways."

Crocodile immediately moved away from his current position and disappeared into the closest building while Doflamingo unknowingly passed by, still chuckling the entire way. When he was gone, Crocodile quickly appeared again and began to trail the massive man. His mind at this point had come to a consensus.

He would hitch a ride with Doflamingo for the time being. It was clear, however, that attempting to reason or rationalize with that man would not work, and Crocodile highly doubted he would be allowed onboard willingly. This, of course, led him to the thought of becoming a stowaway.

Realizing that becoming a stowaway on Doflamingo's ship would only be a temporary assignment at best. He would just have to wait until they docked on the next island, and continue his search there, hopefully with a more rational mind.

One side of Crocodile's mind argued that it would just be best to continue on his current boat, but the other side said that he would only make it to the next island in that pitiful excuse for a ship if the weather conditions were perfect, and even then it wasn't a guarantee; he was lucky to have made it to Wano Country in that tub.

Weighing every option, Crocodile concluded it would be best to stowaway on Doflamingo's—a man who clearly knows his way around the New World—ship until he gets to the next island, where he would get away from him and find a new source for travel, be it stealing a new ship or finding another crew.

Sir Crocodile was careful to make sure Doflamingo wasn't wise to him, and when they finally made it to the docks, Doflamingo immediately ordered his men to stock the ship with supplies they apparently bought in town.

Crocodile quietly got closer to the ship (which, to his utter disgust, was called the _New Age Flamingo_) and prepared himself to sneak onboard. He created a miniature whirlwind in his hand, and quickly threw it towards the loading crew, whispering to himself, "Sables."

The powerful gust of wind was clearly noticed by the crew, but they seemed to brush it off as nothing of importance. Acting quickly, Crocodile transformed his entire body into sand and scattered himself throughout the wind, allowing all of the sand to land on the _New Age Flamingo_ without any notice.

He quickly reformed himself and went into the ship itself, going down as far as he could into the storage area. Crocodile quickly made himself a makeshift hiding place behind the large amount of crates and barrels of supplies. He put out his current cigar and decided not to light anymore while on the ship, lest he garner attention from some of the crew. Crocodile sighed heavily and leaned back against the ship's wall and closed his eyes. He didn't know how long it would take for them to get to the next island, but he would know when they landed.

Needless to say, Crocodile was tired (a few days of sleepless nights navigating your tub of a ship just to get to Wano Country would assure anyone of that). Due to this, he constantly had to fight off his own tiredness, but it didn't take long for his heavy eyelids to fall upon him, and he peacefully drifted off to sleep…

— — —

Sir Crocodile felt something prod his shoulder.

"Hey, wake the fuck up right now and get on your feet!"

Crocodile's eyes immediately shot open and he looked to see five ferocious-looking pirates, each wielding a weapon, glaring daggers at him. The one who spoke to him continued as he said, "Captain Doflamingo would like to have a word with you."

Inwardly, Crocodile cursed himself at letting his guard down, but on the outside, he appeared calm, cool, and collected. He casually took a new cigar out of his coat pocket and lot it, standing up without trouble.

Trouble was the last thing Sir Crocodile wanted on Doflamingo's ship, not wanting to piss off New World pirates and potentially fight with Doflamingo himself. Even if he did win (which he was sure he could do), he knew he would be wounded by the exchange and would be left alone on the _New Age Flamingo_ with no sure way of knowing where he was or where to go next.

No, it was best to do as they say for now, and take things as they go.

He followed the pirates up to the top of the deck, where he saw Donquixote Doflamingo standing there, a smile present on his face, gesturing at Crocodile. "Long time no see Crocodile-Man. You really gotta learn to tail someone better; I sensed you following us and getting on my ship almost immediately, fufufu."

Crocodile coolly took a puff off of his cigar and looked around at Doflamingo's crew. "Not often you need to take people along with you," he replied. "The World Government must have sent you on a tough mission this time."

Doflamingo laughed loudly at this, and when he calmed down, he said, "I guess the news didn't reach ya, Mr. Former Shichibukai, but I'm afraid I'm no longer affiliated with the World Government."

Bingo. Crocodile had guessed that, but he needed to make sure.

"I'm sure the Marines must've had a tough time finding a replacement for you," stated Crocodile, still keeping his cool exterior.

Yet again, Doflamingo let out more raucous laughter. "Wrong yet again Mr. Croc. Unfortunately, the Shichibukai have been completely dismantled, along with most of the Admirals for that matter."

This information did surprise Crocodile, but he didn't show it. "What? How the hell did that happen?"

Doflamingo chuckled and rose up his arms in a disarming fashion. "Fufufu, don't blame me. The man you really oughta talk to goes by the name of Victor."

"Victor?" blurted out Crocodile. This time, he didn't attempt to hide his surprise. "What did he do?"

"He provoked the Admirals and Shichibukai into fightin' one another, and him, Mihawk, and myself were the only ones who came out on top—oh, and Aokiji, but only because he wasn't present."

Shit, Victor was doing more than Crocodile had thought. To singlehandedly dismantle the Shichibukai and the Marine's main fighting force was no easy feat.

"So what did Victor do after this?" inquired Crocodile.

"Hell if I know," Doflamingo chuckled. "After the fightin' was done, I got outta there while Victor just kinda stayed there hovering over the bodies in a weird fashion."

"I see…" Crocodile simply said.

"But let's talk about you, shall we?" asked Doflamingo, changing subjects. "I guess I'll start by asking: why are you on my ship?"

"I lacked a ship, so I decided to hitch a ride with you guys," replied Crocodile, offering nothing more.

This seemed to amuse Doflamingo, as he laughed again. "Fufu, well you just could have asked me, and I would have gladly welcomed you to my crew."

"I have no interest in joining your crew," Crocodile replied bluntly.

Doflamingo laughed again. "I suppose I expected that. By the way, I dunno if you've heard or not, but I've come across something very interesting."

Doflamingo reached behind himself and pulled out a bounty poster. It showed none other than Sir Crocodile's face, and underneath it, it said:

"Wanted Dead or Alive  
Sir Crocodile  
275,000,000 Berries"

"Is that all?" was all Crocodile asked. "I would have thought it would have broken the 300 million barrier at least.

"Fufufu, it looks like we're in the same boat," Doflamingo replied, producing another bounty poster. This time, it was his. "The Marines decided to reinstate my old bounty of 340 million. While I don't regret it, it does seem rather troublesome, don'tcha think?"

"It sounds like you're blaming me," Crocodile responded. "You really ought to blame Victor for starting the whole thing."

"Fufufu, ain't that the truth!" laughed Doflamingo.

Crocodile decided to use this information to his advantage. "Wouldn't you like get even with Victor for doing that to you?"

It took a second, but Doflamingo responded with more laughter. "Now you should know Crocodile-Man, that I'm not one for grudges and revenge. I don't really care about the bounty, it makes things more fun."

Damn, time to try something different. "I'd imagine Victor got himself a nice bounty as well."

Doflamingo threw another bounty poster at Crocodile. This one said:

"Wanted Dead or Alive  
Victor Capere  
325,000,000 Berries"

"Interesting stuff," Sir Crocodile said. "His bounty's pretty close to yours, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say he might very well surpass you soon enough."

"Oh really?" asked Doflamingo, raising an eyebrow.

"Indeed," replied Crocodile. "In fact, I happen to have drawn an interest to this Victor fellow, and found out that he possess an incredibly powerful devil fruit, that allows him to steal any devil fruit he wants, and uses it himself. I'd imagine that's why he set off that little feud between the Shichibukai and Admirals."

"What?"

_("I know how your powers work…it's no devil fruit power, so I'm not really interested in you")_

Doflamingo ceased chuckling, and began to connect the pieces together.

"It surprised me at first too," Crocodile continued. "But I assure you it's true. In fact, if he continues to run around unchecked, he will only get stronger, and who knows what he'd be capable of."

For the first time, Doflamingo's face didn't show amusement, but for a second, actual concern. Crocodile knew he had him now; he just had to seal the deal.

"No doubt you with your 'Might is Right' philosophy wouldn't like someone stronger than you running around…someone who would make and impose their own rules."

"That would be a problem…" he heard Doflamingo mutter.

Now for the closer: "And I also heard that he's aiming for One Piece, and seemed to still believe in dreams. Imagine if someone like that ended up ruling the New World. Imagine what kind of…rules he would impose on all those weaker than him."

Then, Doflamingo surprisingly let out a laugh.

"That Victor sure is sly," he said when his laugh died down. "He used me and Mihawk just to make himself stronger; interesting to be sure, but a problem as well."

"Fortunately," Sir Crocodile intervened, "I also see Victor as a problem and would enjoy seeing him pay for what he's done and what he's going to do. So what say we…band together for now—allies for a common cause, you might say—and see to it that Victor is buried in the ocean where he belongs?"

"Fufufufufufu, you really are good at persuasion Crocodile-Man," laughed Doflamingo. "I guess you also have information on where he is and where he's going, then?"

"I have information on him, and as for where he's going, I'm on his trail right now…hence why I needed to hitch a ride," he coolly replied.

Donquixote Doflamingo pondered this for a long time, before finally saying, "Alright Croc, if you supply me with information on Victor, I'll take you along for the ride to pick up his trail. Don't think that means I trust you, though."

Crocodile puffed on his cigar and said, "I wouldn't expect you too, and I plan on abandoning you as soon as we land on the island Victor's on anyway; I just need you for a ride."

"Fufufufufufu, how ironic, I was just thinking the same thing," stated a smiling Doflamingo.

"Alliance for now then?" asked Crocodile.

Doflamingo nodded, spitting on his hand and holding it out for Crocodile to grab, which Crocodile respectfully refused to shake, sending him into more bouts of laughter. Doflamingo then ordered his men to stand down, and to consider Sir Crocodile as one of their own for now.

Inwardly, Crocodile sighed. He was able to do what he thought was impossible: persuade Donquixote Doflamingo into an alliance. For now, it seemed, he had a safe ride to chase Victor on, making it all the easier.

And if the shit did ever hit the fan with their "alliance," Crocodile would have take Doflamingo out the old-fashioned way.

He was sure he could do it, if it ever came to that.

* * *

A tedious new alliance at best...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	76. Resurgence

Return to the Marineford. Enjoy!

**The 598th chapter of One Piece was a glorious return indeed! I can barely contain my excitement for the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**76: Resurgence**

Normally, to get back to the Grand Line from the New World, a pirate would have to go through Fishman Island again. In order to get back to the island again, however, it would require going through the Narox Drift yet again.

While going through the natural phenomena would be akin to simply passing through a large area covered in steam, attempting to use conventional means of "ship coating" to submerge underwater—when the Narox Drift's very purpose is to nullify that effect—would prove to be ineffective.

To bypass this, the scientists of the Grand Line (spearheaded by Dr. Vegapunk, of course) finally discovered a method of adding a specially made gel on top of the resin from Sabaody's Yarukiman Mangroves to give the bubble more weight, and thus, cancelling out the effects of the Narox Drift, allowing the ship to descend and enter Fishman Island yet again.

Scientifically speaking, it changed the status quo that was once a known fact of "if you get to the New World, you can't go back to the first half of the Grand Line" to "allowing free reign of ships on both sides of the Red Line." Of course, the said process of adding to ship coating was not cheap, although any modern town in the New World can supply such craftsmen. Due to this, it's a pain in the neck for pirates to go through the effort of another ship coating just to return to the Grand Line.

To marines, however, the process is made much easier.

The World Government and Marines own several currents that only they can use. While the number of currents are generally scarce in the New World, there is one at the beginning that is used the most often.

Similar to the Reverse Mountain several pirates ride to get to the Grand Line, this particular current (known as the Red Current) takes the same principle and uses it to bypass going to Fishman Island and the tedious process of ship coating altogether.

At a certain point in the Red Line (not too far from where Fishman Island is, albeit much deeper) following the Red Current, there is a large rush of water going up all the way to the top of the Red Line. If followed, the ship would reach a rather large river at the top of the Red Line, not too far from Mariejois. Said uphill current can be used both ways, and is often employed by the marines to get to their destination faster.

Currently, the same ship Commodore Smoker used to get to the New World and subsequently the Vespian Isles was on the Red Current getting ready to go up the Reverse Mountain of the Red Line to reenter Mariejois and get to Marineford to report to Fleet Admiral Sengoku on what had recently happened.

The ship made good time going up the mountain and landed by Mariejois, where they quickly requested to get back to the Grand Line, which they did, and before they knew it, they were stepping foot on Marineford yet again, which was still under major reconstruction after the Whitebeard War.

Monkey D. Garp stepped off the ship and looked to be in good humor. Beside him was Smoker and Tashigi, while Captain Black Cage Hina was overlooking the transport of Shiryu, Basco, Devon, and Pizarro. She quickly said her goodbyes to the group and left on another ship bound for Impel Down, where she intended to return the Level 6 escapees where they belonged.

"Well," Garp said, cracking his neck, "best not keep old Sengoku waiting. Let's go and give him our report."

Smoker and Tashigi nodded, as they walked into the main building and soon enough entered the room of Fleet Admiral Sengoku, who had his back turned to them and appeared to be busy talking on a den-den mushi with someone, and he did not look happy doing it.

"Look!" Sengoku demanded to the person on the other line of the den-den mushi. "You can tell the Gorosei that the Marines are using every available resource to restore order on the seas!"

There were a few seconds of silence as the man on the other line spoke.

A vein appeared in Sengoku's forehead as he said, "I don't give a fuck about any timetables the Gorosei _may_ have set; we're doing the best we can here. A lot got destabilized after the Whitebeard War and if they don't like how long it's taking, you can tell them to get a dose of reality and just be patient!"

He then slammed the den-den mushi down and rubbed his temples muttering something before turning around and seeing Garp, Smoker, and Tashigi standing there at attention, waiting for Sengoku to address them. The Fleet Admiral gave a small surprised yelp, but regained composure quickly as he looked at Garp with confusion.

"Well, what a surprise to see you here Garp. What brings you back here?"

Garp grinned and said sarcastically, "Nice to see you too Sengoku."

Sengoku raised an eyebrow and said, "I was under the impression that you left the Marines due to the tragic outcome of the Whitebeard War and, as you put it, 'Not being able to deal with the stress anymore.' So I'll ask again, what brings you here?"

"I think I'll let Smoker here fill in the details of what's going on," Garp coolly replied. "You can draw your own conclusions after that."

Sengoku turned his attention to Smoker and asked, "Well, did you acquire the locations of Mihawk, Doflamingo, and Victor?"

"Not on the first two, sir," Smoker replied. "However, we were able to track down Victor Capere on the Vespian Isles."

"Vespian Isles?" questioned Sengoku. "What was he doing there?"

It took Smoker a few seconds to answer, but he finally said, "He was attempting to raise the ancient weapon Poseidon."

Shock appeared on Sengoku's face, but he quickly brushed it off and asked, "How exactly did he know of its location?"

Smoker shook his head. "I don't know, sir, but he was successful in raising the weapon; I saw it quite clearly. However, before he could use its power on the island, the ship exploded from the inside and killed many people, including most of the men from my battalion."

Sengoku simply sat there, taking the information in, as he said, "Well that's good, I suppose. Were you able to at least take him into custody?"

"No," Smoker bluntly replied. "However, we were able to take into custody Shiryu, Basco Shot, Catarina Devon, and Abalo Pizarro. They're currently on their way back to Impel Down."

Sengoku smiled as he said, "That is fantastic news, but what of San Juan Wolf?"

"Killed by the Poseidon explosion," answered Smoker. "The explosion also killed most of Victor's men, but there's still a handful of players left that were able to escape due to the chaos brought on by the destruction of Poseidon."

"Who would that be?"

Smoker closed his eyes as he began to list off the remaining men. "Vendrix Confreski the Disillusioned, Aliyyah the Typhoon, Daron Arkan the Marauder, Benjamin McAllister, Kenji the Mastodon, Kaede the Cerberus, and a man I personally fought named Tobias the Dreamer."

"Well that's quite a list," Sengoku simply responded. "Some of them seem to have extensive records such as Vendrix and Aliyyah…To think Victor has such a powerful crew under his command…"

Smoker and Garp looked at each other, before Smoker said, "There's another thing you should know about Victor, sir."

"What is that?"

Smoker chomped on his two cigars before saying, "Although we initially believed Victor to only have the powers of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, it's quite obvious that it is not the _only_ power he possesses."

"What the hell do you mean?" inquired a slightly-confused Sengoku.

"It's like this," Garp said, deciding to answer for Smoker. "Victor originally had the power of some unnamed devil fruit, but don't let the lack of a name fool you, it's probably the scariest devil fruit I've ever heard of. Quite simply, it allows Victor to 'steal' other devil fruit user's powers and use the powers himself."

"How do you know this?" demanded Sengoku.

Smoker puffed on his cigar as he said, "He was able to use the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to throw everyone off-balance and escape the Vespian Isles. What's more, Garp was able to actually fight him, and he could recount several different types of powers Victor used, although the other most notable one is Blackbeard's Dark-Dark Fruit."

Sengoku put his hand to his head in a completely unnerved fashion. "Shit…is this true Garp?"

Monkey D. Garp simply nodded grimly.

"Both Akainu and Kizaru were found dead, along with Moria and Kuma after their fight with the Shichibukai," stated Sengoku. "Are you saying that Victor was also able to steal their devil fruit powers?"

"While fighting him, I noticed he turned his body into lava to avoid my grandson's attacks," replied Garp. "So I know that he was able to steal Akainu's power."

"How come we've never heard of them then?" asked Sengoku, anger rising in his voice. "If he had such powers, how come he isn't well-known?"

"It gets even worse," Garp said. "I've also found out that he was once a part of Gold Roger's crew."

Smoker, Sengoku, and Tashigi all looked at Garp with surprise on their faces, as he didn't let any of them know about this information beforehand.

"All the more reason we should have recognized him," Sengoku said in a surprisingly calm voice. "Yet he was able to slip past me, and I've fought with you against Gold Roger dozens of times."

"It surprised me at first too," said Garp. "I never would have recognized him like that at first glance, and you shouldn't have as well. Though he may have been a part of the crew, he certainly wasn't as notable as Red-Haired Shanks or Silvers Rayleigh. As far as I know, he was just a simple crewmember who never seemed to make a name for himself."

"Alright," Sengoku said with resolve. "I no longer care about what happens to Doflamingo or Mihawk right now. Now that we know that Victor Capere—"

"Victor D. Capere, actually," stated Garp.

"Even worse…" muttered Sengoku, before continuing. "Now that we know that Victor D. Capere has such powers, we're operating under the assumption that he caused the fight between the Shichibukai and the Admirals. Also, if he was apart of Gold Roger's crew and able to resurrect the Poseidon, he is a man who absolutely must be stopped."

He picked up his den-den mushi and said, "Lieutenant Commander Brandnew, I want you to raised Victor Capere's bounty from 325 million to 400 million, and be sure to add the initial 'D.' to his new bounty."

He then slammed the den-den mushi down after getting a response from Brandnew.

Sengoku immediately looked at Smoker and said, "We can deal with his crew's bounties in a bit, but for now, Victor is the main player and we should focus our efforts on capturing him."

Looking at Garp now, Sengoku continued, "I assumed you're back here now because you want to help out against Victor too, then?"

Garp nodded. "It wasn't a coincidence that I ended up on the Vespian Isles to meet with Smoker. After the mysterious devil fruit captures, I decided to look into it and the trail of clues led me to the Vespian Isles where I knew Victor was going to try and raise Poseidon…luckily that never happened."

Sengoku surprisingly smiled and said, "Nice to have you back Garp. I'll have your old rank reinstated soon enough."

Garp shook his head and said, "No, no, I'm only temporarily back in the Marines until Victor is caught; I guess you could say it's my stubborn pride of never being able to catch Roger coming back. After this entire ordeal is done, I'm retiring for good."

Sengoku nodded understandingly. "Alright old friend, I understand. However, the Gorosei need to know this immediately." He looked at Smoker and Tashigi and said, "For your and Hina's valiant effort of stopping Poseidon from coming back, you are all given an extra rank. Congratulations Rear-Admiral Smoker, Lieutenant Tashigi, and as soon as Black Cage finds out, Commodore Hina."

"Thank you sir!" Tashigi said a bit flustered.

"However, it should be noted that the Straw Hats as well as the people of the Vespian Isles helped us with the task," Smoker said. "In fact, they did _more_ than us and it was a Vespian himself who destroyed the—"

"That doesn't change the fact that the Straw Hats have been a massive pain recently and are still pirates," Sengoku interjected. "As for the Vespians, they have our thanks, but you still deserve credit."

Smoker drudgingly nodded. "Yes, sir."

Sengoku nodded as he looked at Smoker again and said, "I also want you to go back into the New World and track down any sign of Victor. If you find anything, report to me via den-den mushi, and we'll be there as fast as we can to capture him."

Smoker nodded. "What about Tashigi and Hina?"

"They'll follow up as the reinforcement group when you make the call," Sengoku answered. "For now, however, you're the only commanding officer heading this mission; I have faith in you Rear-Admiral Smoker."

Smoker nodded. "Thank you sir."

"You'll have another battalion under your command and only one ship as well," Sengoku said. "Remember, your mission is that of reconnaissance, not to attract attention to yourself."

"I'll leave immediately sir," Smoker said.

Sengoku nodded. "Good luck."

With that, both Smoker and Tashigi left, leaving Sengoku and Garp left. Sengoku looked at Garp and said, "Well old friend, what would you do in this position?"

"I'd do exactly what you're doing," Garp replied. "However, don't be surprised if some other people catch up to Victor before Smoker does."

Sengoku raised an eyebrow quizzically and asked, "And who would that be?"

Garp grinned and said, "My grandson should be in pursuit of him right now, and if he catches up to Victor, he'll do our job for us."

Sengoku slumped back in his seat and sighed. "Then for once, let's hope that your grandson succeeds…Everyone knows that he succeeded in humiliating the entirety of the World Government…"

Garp kept his smile and nodded. "That's my boy!"

Sengoku sighed yet again, as he didn't much care about the Straw Hats right now. With all this new information, his biggest threat was now that of Victor D. Capere.

* * *

The marines now brought up to speed. What's their next move?

**Unfortunately, I will be busy Saturday and Sunday, so I will be taking a break and be updating back on Monday.**

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	77. Challenge at the Island of Foodvalten

Introspection into the past. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**77: Challenge at the Island of Foodvalten**

_The three men with prices on their heads fled throughout the streets of the town on an island in the West Blue, and Bennett Morris followed._

_"What good will running do ya?" cried Bennett as he was hot on the men's heels. "I'm just gonna catch ya anyways!"_

_"Bobby, Terry, take care of him," the leader of the three said to the other two._

_"You got it boss!"_

_Bobby and Terry nodded as they both immediately stopped and turned towards Bennett, fearsome looking cutlasses in both of their hands, all while their boss continued to run. Bennett looked at them and sighed, asking, "You really wanna take this route?"_

_"Shut the fuck up bounty-boy!" Bobby said, rushing at Bennett with his cutlass._

_Bennett sighed as he pulled his double-headed battleaxe from his back with one hand and quickly parried Bobby's blow. With a sigh, he used his free hand to smash Bobby in the stomach, winding him, causing Bennett to slam his elbow down on Bobby's exposed back, sending him to the floor in a daze._

_Terry saw this, but wasn't discouraged, as he let out a massive roar and rushed towards Bennett with, swinging his own cutlass wildly. Bennett quickly avoided his lunge and sent the handle of his battleaxe straight into Terry's chest, sending him flying onto his back. Bennett took advantage of this and slammed his foot down on Terry's face, knocking him out cold._

_"The bounty's no good if you fellas are dead," he simply said, placing his battleaxe onto his back again. "Just wait here while I go after your boss."_

_Taking off at full speed, Bennett was intent on finding the Boss. He hung a quick right as he muttered to himself, "I know I saw him go this way, now where could he—"_

_He stopped himself when he heard a familiar-sounding roar. He took a left and saw the Boss standing there, cursing at someone who was in his way, and Bennett had never seen him before._

_To his surprise, the Boss threw a quick punch at the young man in his way, but he deftly dodged it and was able to grab the Boss's outstretch arm. With a single yank, he sent the Boss flying through the air and doing a quick flip before landing hard on his back. The young man brutally yanked up the Boss's outstretched arm and stomped on his chest for good measure, continually doing so until the Boss spat blood out of his mouth with each stomp._

_Bennett sighed as he adjusted his familiar flat cap and said, "Oh brother, better go and stop this guy before he kills my reward!"_

_He quickly trotted towards the man and said, "Hey, hey, you can stop that now. I'll take it from here."_

_The man looked at Bennett quizzically, dropping the Boss's arm._

_Bennett sighed as he said, "It's okay. I'm the one who was chasing this clown, and he's no good to me dead."_

_"You're a…bounty hunter?" the man asked._

_Bennett shook his head sarcastically. "No, I'm a fuckin' barber chasin' these idiots because they forgot to pay—of course I'm a bounty hunter, and this guy's no good to me if he's dead."_

_"He was the one who ran into me, and before I knew it, he started attacking me," the man replied. "I was just defending myself."_

_"Yeah, you're a real civil servant…" Bennett rolled his eyes as he looked at the man again._

_He looked to be around his age, twenty or so, and had jet black spiked hair with a youthful look in his eye. Bennett pushed that out of his mind as he kneeled down to the groaning Boss's level and pulled out some handcuffs._

_"Shut up," Bennett said dismissively when he heard the Boss groan again. "You got what you deserved."_

_"So how much are they worth?" the man asked._

_"This one's worth 300,000 berries, while two I bagged back there were worth 200,000 apiece. Chump change I know, but if you turn 'em all in at once they'll reward ya with an even million berries."_

_After handcuffing the Boss, he yanked him up and looked at the man yet again. Bennett extended his hand and said, "My name's Bennett Morris by the way."_

_The man grabbed his outstretched hand and said, "I'm Victor D. Capere; nice to meet you."_

_Bennett scratched the back of his head and said, "Look, since you did help me bag this guy, I suppose I could share some of the money with ya; you hungry? I know this great place not too far away, and I'd be happy to treat ya to a nice hot meal."_

_Victor smiled and said, "That sounds really good. I've been drifting for quite a while now and actually just came to this island; and I'm starving."_

_Bennett smiled as he began to walk towards the unconscious Bobby and Terry. "Come on, I just have to take care of these clowns first and we can break bread together. I'll help get you familiar with this island…"_

— — —

"Long story short, that's how I met up with old Victor here," Bennett explained to the Corps of Kings while on their way to Foodvalten. "That musta been…oh, around 30 years ago. Isn't that so, Victor old boy?"

Victor, who was currently steering and navigating the ship, looked down at the group and muttered, "Something like that…"

"Aye, those were good times," Bennett recalled to the group. "We hit it off immediately and before ya knew it, we were partners in the art of bounty hunting. We had pirates fearin' us all over the West Blue and even in the Grand Line. Ain't that right, Victor old boy?"

Victor looked down again and muttered, "Something like that…"

Luckily, the island of Foodvalten wasn't that far away from Nazgan Island and the group set out almost immediately on one of Bennett's spare galleons; Victor remarked it wouldn't be long before they got there. In the meantime, Bennett decided to get familiar with the Corps of Kings, and started explaining his history with Victor.

"Never woulda pegged Victor for a bounty hunter," Vendrix snickered. "Why didn't ya ever tell us about this, eh Victor?"

Victor looked down again and bluntly replied, "It's a long, rambling, and uninteresting chapter in my life that never came up in conversation, so I never talked about it. What do you want, Vendrix, a memoir of my past?"

"Kikiki, relax," he said back. "I just thought it was interesting, that's all."

"And he was the best hand-to-hand fighter I've ever seen," Bennett continued. "He was so good that he used to be able to beat me in a fistfight; and I pride myself on being a proficient fighter. He never fought me when I used my axe though. Dunno if he's gotten rusty since then…"

"We wouldn't about that," Aliyyah said unenthusiastically. "He's been too busy with—"

"Of course I haven't gotten rusty," Victor cut in, stopping Aliyyah's sentence. "Would you care to try me, Bennett?"

Bennett smirked and then stood up and looked at the edge of the deck, stretching his arms. "So I've been wondering," Bennett said to Victor. "How come no one's ever come across and already harvested this Adam Tree on Foodvalten?"

"Foodvalten was under the control of Whitebeard for the longest time," Victor replied, "and I doubt that old man even cared if there was an Adam Tree or not. After his untimely death, however, the island has since been taken over by Keith Inzei—or Brownbeard as he now likes to call himself, and he's much too stupid to even notice that there's an Adam Tree on that island."

"So your plan hinged on hoping that Brownbeard is an idiot…you always were one for the planning Victor," Bennett said sarcastically.

"I'm best when I'm going impromptu," Victor replied. "But you know that, don'tcha Bennett?"

"Hmph," Bennett said as he looked out at the sea yet again. "Don't be thinking we're on good terms now just because I've decided to help you build a ship."

"Right, right, you're here because you want a crack at One Piece, just like everyone else," said Victor.

Bennett shook his head. "Even I have my doubts about the validity of that statement, and even if you knew where it was, there's no guarantee you'll get there; I'm sure Roger didn't leave all that treasure unprotected."

"Correct…" replied Victor.

Bennett raised up his index finger and said, "No, you really got me when you said you know where an Adam Tree is. I may be a bounty hunter, but I'm also a shipwright, and it's every shipwright's dream to build a ship made out of Adam Wood."

"Still got dreams even after all these years, then…" stated Victor, not even looking at Bennett anymore. Then, he caught a glimpse of something ahead and said, "I think that's our island."

Everyone looked to see the outline of land, as Kaede smirked and said, "About damn time. You said there's pirates there, right Victor? That means we're gonna kill 'em, right?"

"Calm down Kaede, you're starting to sound like a mindless beast," Kenji commented.

Kaede turned to Kenji and said, "Ah, shut up, it's just tiring doing nothing all the time; I haven't had any action since the Vespian Isles, and I'm fired up!"

"Brownbeard's known as a somewhat normal pirate in the New World, but when considering its the second half of the Grand Line we're talking about, it won't be easy," Tobias said solemnly. "So there'll be enough pirates to fight for all of us."

"If that's the case, we'd best dock discreetly if we want to not attract attention to Brownbeard," Benjamin suggested.

"Calm down, all of you," Victor said to his group. "We're gonna take out Brownbeard's crew, but we're gonna do it in a way that will be most beneficial to us all. Now I happen to have a plan—"

"Oh brother…" muttered Bennett.

Victor gave him a quick sharp glance and then continued. "Now I have a plan, so listen up…"

— — —

The citizens of Foodvalten were not known as the most technologically advanced or militaristic. Indeed, it seemed like they were stuck back a hundred years ago, as they were still deeply spiritualistic (as evidenced by the fact that every citizen wears feathers upon their head, as they see it to be connecting them with their own gods and spirits).

Around thirty years ago, Edward Newgate (under the moniker of Whitebeard) came to the island, and, when noticing the fact that they had no means to defend themselves, he declared the island his in order to protect the citizens from pirate attacks.

Very recently, however, after Whitebeard's death, a New World pirate came in and took over, even slashing Whitebeard's old flag. He declared himself to be Brownbeard-sama and subsequent ruler of the island. The citizens could do nothing, as unlike his predecessor, Brownbeard enjoyed lazing around Foodvalten with his crew, doing whatever he wished.

Currently, Brownbeard was enjoying a large feast at the center of Foodvalten's main (and in fact, only) town, overworking the poor Foodvalten chefs with his immense appetite. Every once in a while, pirates or explorers stopped on the island, but Brownbeard quickly repelled the force away, keeping the island under his control.

Most of the Foodvalten citizens were on hand by the feast in case Brownbeard needed anything (and the requests could get obscure in regards to food). Then, suddenly one of Brownbeard's pirates burst in, getting everyone's attention.

"Captain Keith!" he said quickly.

Brownbeard simply gave him a death gaze, causing the pirate to gulp.

"S-Sorry…Brownbeard-sama, we have intruders invading Foodvalten."

"What?" said Brownbeard, immediately standing up. "Who would dare try to step foot on my island without my permission?"

The pirate shook his head. "I dunno, but it's clear they're coming straight for the town. We tried to stop 'em on the docks, but they just plowed through us, sending me back here to tell you that they're coming for you!"

Surprisingly, Brownbeard laughed at this. "Uoh hoh hoh, let the fools come. We'll be ready with our full force. Go and gather as many men as you can."

"Yes, sir!" the pirate said before leaving again.

Brownbeard began to walk away from the massive table with food on it and said to the citizens of Foodvalten, "Go and get your families. I'm gonna entertain you all with a little exercise for me and my men."

The citizens shuddered, but knew better than to question Brownbeard's demands…

— — —

Victor, Bennett, and the Corps of Kings paraded through the island of Foodvalten, walking straight towards the town in the middle of the island. They dealt with the petty pirate attack at the docks, and made it quite clear that they were going after Brownbeard.

Not before long, they reached the front of the town. There, at the front, stood all of Brownbeard's men with their weapons drawn. Behind them was Brownbeard, and behind him were all of the citizens of Foodvalten. Victor stopped the group, as Brownbeard surveyed the attacking force.

"I heard you wanted to see me," he said to the group.

Surprisingly, Bennett stepped forward and said proudly, "Keith Inzei—aka Brownbeard, New World pirate with a bounty of 80 million berries—we've come here to stop your reign of terror and get your bounty."

"Bounty hunters, eh?" Brownbeard chuckled. "Well I'm flattered you brought such a large force to deal with me."

"Don't worry about them," Bennett replied. "I, Bennett Morris the Harvester, challenge you to a one-on-one fight Brownbeard. It will just be you and me, and no one else will interfere. Of course, we'd have both sides standby just to make sure that didn't happen."

"Uoh hoh hoh," laughed Brownbeard. "Interesting. It's been a while since I've been challenged to a one-on-one fight before. I accept Bennett Morris, and if I beat you, you and your friends have to leave this island for good."

Bennett nodded. "And if I win, we're going to turn you in to the World Government."

Brownbeard laughed again as he pushed past his men and made his way to the front. He and Bennett met at the middle, as Brownbeard was at least twice the size of him. Brownbeard looked down and said, "You're gonna regret this, little man."

Bennett simply smirked as he struck up a fighting stance and said, "No, I don't think I will…"

Then, with Victor, the Corps of Kings, the Brownbeard Pirates, and the citizens of Foodvalten watching, both Bennett and Brownbeard struck.

* * *

Fight for the Adam Tree!

**Updating on Wednesday!**

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	78. Uproar and Uproot

Fight at Foodvalten. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**78: Uproar and Uproot**

Brownbeard struck first, raising his bear-sized fist high in the air and bringing it crashing down towards Bennett. Unfortunately for the larger of the two fighters, Bennett saw this coming and leapt to the side. Without a word of dialogue, Bennett threw a quick jab into Brownbeard's now exposed ribs, causing him to grab his side in pain.

"Big moves tend to never really pay off," Bennett smirked, tipping his flat cap. "Only use one if it's meant to finish someone off, not to start a fight."

"Little worm!" roared Brownbeard, swinging his gargantuan arm towards Bennett who was at his side.

Bennett lightly ducked and said, "Looks like I'm gonna have to teach you the fundamentals of hand-to-hand combat before anything else. First lesson…never leave yourself open!"

He quickly rushed under Brownbeard's arm and lashed his leg out, hitting Brownbeard's own leg and sending him sprawling to the floor and landing on his back with a painful thud. The denizens of Foodvalten only watch with amazement as their hopes of being rid of Brownbeard were starting to grow.

"Tsk, tsk," Bennett said, wagging his finger. "All that extra strength and weight on ya, and all it does is make your fall all the more jarring."

Before Bennett knew it, Brownbeard leapt to his feet, shaking the ground when he landed. With a smirk, Brownbeard cocked his right fist back and smashed it straight into Bennett's unprotected stomach, sending him flying to the floor several feet away. He lied motionless for a while, as Brownbeard's smile persisted.

"That's what ya get for gettin' too cocky worm, uoh hoh hoh!"

"Looked like a pretty bad hit," Kenji commented, watching at the sidelines like everyone else.

Kaede nodded and looked over at Victor. "Hope your partner doesn't croak that easily!"

Victor smiled as he pointed where Bennett was lying. "Don't worry about him; he's just messing with Brownbeard right now."

Then, as if by magic, Bennett rose to his feet, cracked his neck, and looked at Brownbeard with a grin. "I see you enjoy using the brute force approach to fighting. Such an outdated technique, don'tcha think?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Brownbeard yelled, clearly angered now, as he rushed towards Bennett.

Bennett matched his rush and charged straight towards him. When he was close enough, he quickly threw a quick jab towards Brownbeard's chest, but the pirate captain had enough sense to hop backs lightly to barely avoid the blow. Grinning, Brownbeard cupped both his hands together and raised them high over his head.

"Say goodnight little worm!" he said, before bringing his fists smashing down towards Bennett's head.

Brownbeard's unfortunate hands hit only metal, however, as Bennett was quick enough to bring out his double-headed battleaxe and block the blow altogether. Bennett pushed his hands away and quickly brought his axe handle straight towards Brownbeard's protruding gut, winding him. Bennett used this opportunity to leap away while Brownbeard went to recover.

"Now we'll see it," Victor said with a grin. "The reason Bennett is feared is not for his hand-to-hand combat, but for his proficient use of an axe!"

Bennett twirled the massive axe between one hand skillfully as he looked at Brownbeard and chided, "Come on, I'm waitin' for you big boy."

Brownbeard brought both his hands down to the ground, and with a massive roar, was able to rip a large chunk of earth out. With a grin, he lifted it over his head and chucked it straight at Bennett. He simply stood there, and with one powerful strike with his axe, he was able to shatter the rock, sending chunks of it to the ground all around him.

"No need to be so cruel to the earth, ya know," was all Bennett said to the shocked Brownbeard.

Without many options left, Brownbeard let out a large roar and charged straight towards Bennett, heedless of the danger. Quickly holstering his axe on his back again, Bennett dropped to the floor and planted both hands onto the ground.

"Now you'll see what happens when you harm the earth needlessly like that," he said as Brownbeard continued to charge at him. "Greenery Growth!"

Much to Brownbeard's surprise, he soon found that it was harder to move towards Bennett. He looked down and saw something truly strange to him. The sparse grass and vegetation that normally resided on the ground was now flourishing into a tangle of green vines, roots, and other forms of vegetation. All of this got in Brownbeard's way as he finally began to lose his balance when he was close to Bennett. In a last ditch effort, he threw a punch towards his enemy.

Bennett simply reacted by pulling a large tangle of wood from the ground, blocking the attack. "You'd be surprised how deep the roots in some of these trees grows," he simply said to the falling Brownbeard.

Without another word, he used the axe in his free hand to effortlessly slice through the undergrowth, hitting Brownbeard's chest before he hit the ground face first.

Brownbeard recovered rather quickly, and when he was on his hands and knees to try and get up, he looked at Bennett and asked, "What the hell did you do?"

Bennett smiled and replied, "Nothing much, just employed the talents of my devil fruit."

"Devil fruit?"

"Indeed," he stated. "You see, I ate the Plant-Plant Fruit, and it allows me to manipulate all manner of vegetation and green life in any way I want."

Brownbeard was far past the point of caring, as he looked to his pirates at the sidelines and said, "What are you waiting for? Kill all of them!"

The pirates cheered and raised their guns, aiming them at Victor and the Corps of Kings. They all fired at once, but Aliyyah quickly jumped in front of the group and held both her arms out, creating a large wall of water protecting everyone.

"Soak Wall!" she said, as the bullets struck the water, and seemed to lose all momentum and simply float within the wall.

"Why the fuck can't our bullets pierce water?" one of the Brownbeard Pirates asked.

"Easy," smirked Aliyyah. "Since I control the water, I also can control its outward pressure. As soon as your bullets struck, I simply raised the pressure and equaled the bullets momentum, stopping them dead in their tracks…Oh, and don't think I can't control its inward pressure too!"

"What?"

Without explaining anymore, all of the bullets stuck in the wall were suddenly pushed by the water and sent flying out back towards the pirates, striking several of them. Victor smiled and looked at Kaede. "This enough action for ya?"

He smirked and cracked his knuckles. "Let me at 'em!"

With that, Victor and the Corps of Kings rushed to meet the Brownbeard Pirates.

Captain Brownbeard, however, just barely got to his feet, holding his sliced chest. Bennett stood there, his axe resting on his shoulder, as he said, "Now don't go overexerting yourself now. I like to bring my bounties in alive."

_"SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU LITTLE WORM!"_ yelled the angry Brownbeard as he seemed to forget about his wound and rush towards Bennett yet again.

Bennett didn't even attempt to move, and when Brownbeard was close enough and threw a punch, he lightly sidestepped the attack and held out his free arm. Surprisingly, a large amount of thick vines and vegetation sprung from his arm and caught onto Brownbeard's outstretched fist. With a quick yank, he brought Brownbeard's arm, and subsequently his body, barreling towards Bennett and his outstretched axe handle.

Bennett added his own force and met Brownbeard halfway, causing him to spit out a large amount of blood and simply mutter, "What…"

Bennett let his arm go from his hold and held out his free hand towards Brownbeard. In his palm was a small seed. "I can create these at will," he explained, "and my powers also let me grow then at an accelerated rate, like so."

The seed suddenly burst free and to everyone's amazement, it grew into a massive uprooted tree. Bennett holstered his axe and rested the large tree between both his arms. "Oh," he said, "remember when I threw a punch at you and you barely dodged?"

_(when he was close enough, he quickly threw a quick jab towards Brownbeard's chest, but the pirate captain had enough sense to hop backs lightly to barely avoid the blow)_

"I'm afraid I planted some seeds on your body without you even knowing it," continued Bennett.

Then, with a snap of his fingers, a large amount of greenery emerged on his skin and utterly covered the front side of his body. It was so thick that Brownbeard couldn't see and in fear began to rip some of it off his body.

"Tangled Strangle," Bennett said as he raised the tree he had over his head. "And this is what finishes it!"

He then brought the massive uprooted tree smashing down on Brownbeard's exposed back, sending him crashing to the floor in a daze. Bennett sighed as he threw the tree aside and snapped his finger again, seeming to wither away all of the vegetation that was on Brownbeard's skin, bringing him back to normal.

Victor saw this as he threw a massive right hook to a pirate's jaw, sending him to the floor, and then looked at the surprised Foodvalten onlookers. He smiled and threw his hands up in the air, bellowing:

_"CITIZENS OF FOOVALTEN! YOU HAVE BEEN LIBERATED FROM THE PLAGUE KNOWN AS BROWNBEARD!"_

This outburst caused several Foodvalten citizens to look at each other with confusion for a second, before finally letting out a massive cheer.

"The terror of Brownbeard is over!"

"We're finally free!"

"Let's celebrate with our liberators!"

Victor smiled as everything went just as he had suspected. He casually strolled over to Bennett as the Corps of Kings dealt with the last of Brownbeard's men and saw him handcuffing the unconscious Brownbeard.

He raised his flat cap in amazement at Victor and said, "I'll be damned. For once, your plan seemed to work."

Victor smirked and added, "And while these fools are celebrating, we'll be able to sneak away and steal their precious Adam Tree."

"I still think it would've been easier just to take it outright," Bennett stated.

Victor used his index finger to tap at his head and said, "And that's why you should leave the plans to me. If we did that, then we very well could have run into an angry mob's resistance. Now, even if they're not too distracted to notice us taking the tree, they'll let it slide. We are their liberators, after all."

Bennett smirked and said, "Either way, we got what we wanted."

Victor matched his smirk and simply said, "Indeed…"

— — —

As night fell on Foodvalten, its feathered citizens certainly didn't sleep.

They whipped up a massive bonfire in the middle of their town and cooked up a feast for their saviors. Drinks were passed around and good food was served as the Corps of Kings entertained the citizens.

Victor had thrown Brownbeard in the brig of the ship they used to get to Foodvalten, while telling his pirates to leave this island and never come back, which they seemed all too happy to do, even if it meant abandoning their captain.

Due to the fact that this celebration involved everyone who lived on Foodvalten, the sheer size of the crowd made it easy for the celebrating Victor and Bennett to slip away unnoticed. They silently trekked through the woods of Foodvalten, as Victor looked around at each tree.

"If my information is correct," he said, swaying his head from side-to-side, "then the tree should be somewhere around…here!"

Both Bennett and Victor looked up to see the larger than normal tree right in front of them. Bennett, amazed at how the tree looked, slowly walked towards it and put his hand on it, testing it with a few knocks.

"Yep, it's real," he confirmed to Victor. "I've only worked with Adam Wood a few times in my life, but I'd never forget its quality. Although I've never had a whole tree to work with…"

He looked at it admiringly as Victor said, "The faster we get it down, the better, so get to it Bennett."

Bennett backed away from it a few inches and said, "Right, right, don't worry about it Victor. I'll get your precious Adam Tree down without damaging it."

Then, without a word, Bennett put his hands on the ground and closed his eyes, not doing anything for several seconds, getting Victor a bit impatient. "Well any day now Mr. Harvester."

"Shut up, it's not easy to find the roots you need in a fuckin' forest where the ground's fulla roots!" he smartly responded. "Just hold on a…there, I got it!"

"Then act quickly," Victor said. "Despite it being a large celebration, I'm sure some of the citizens will notice if we're gone too long."

Bennett ignored him as he gripped the earth and let out a massive roar. "Uproot!" he yelled, as he lifted both his arms up, seemingly holding nothing within them.

Despite that, the Adam Tree began to tilt. Bennett continued to move both his arms in a strange cryptic movement as the tree began to shake more and more. Finally, with a crack, the Adam Tree leaned far to the left side and uprooted the ground on the right side.

"There she goes!" exclaimed Bennett. "Timber!"

With that, the Adam Tree got completely uprooted and hit the ground with a thud, knocking over another tree in the process. Victor and Bennett quickly ran to it to check that it wasn't damaged.

Exchanging smiles, both men let out a cheer. Bennett went to the back and said, "I'll take the back side, you take the front side?"

Victor walked to the front side and put his hands underneath the tree. "It's pretty heavy, you better be careful."

"Don't worry about me," Bennett quickly replied. "Just make sure you're not too old to do some heavy lifting."

Victor grunted as both men strained, but finally lifted the Adam Tree off of the ground. It was heavier than both of them had expected, as Victor said to Bennett, "We won't be able to carry it in one go; we're gonna have to take periodic breaks through our trip."

Bennett nodded and added, "We'll also have to take the back way, so we don't attract any attention."

They both started moving forward, and not before long, they had to put it on the ground and regain their strength. "We might need some more muscle to carry this," Victor panted.

"Nah," responded Bennett. "We can do it if we just pace ourselves."

After a few minutes, they both got ready to move again. Before they lifted it up, however, Victor looked at Bennett and reminded him, "I want you to start making a ship as soon as we get this to the dock."

"Yeah, yeah," said Bennett unenthusiastically. "I brought all my tools with me, but it'll take a couple of days, even with you guys helping me."

"That's fine," Victor replied.

Then, both men let out grunts and lifted the Adam Tree again, slowly walking back to Bennett's ship, so they could begin the making of the ship that would take them to the legendary One Piece.

* * *

Start the shipbuilding!

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	79. Storm Warning

Meanwhile... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**79: Storm Warning**

"Turn 45 degrees port!" Nami shouted out to the Straw Hat Crew. Unfortunately her voice couldn't be heard over the massive gusts of wind and sheets of rain falling on them.

Much to the chagrin and detriment to the Straw Hat Crew, the weather conditions in the New World were somewhat similar to how they were in the Grand Line, but multiplied to the nth degree. Despite the storm pounding the _Thousand Sunny_ for three days now, Nami kept at it, using her natural navigation instincts to keep them on the correct course to Baltigo.

"Franky, will the ship hold if this keeps up?" shouted Usopp to the mechanic.

Franky gave Usopp a thumbs-up and said, "Don't worry, I didn't give you guys such a weak ship it couldn't stand this! Remember, this is made of Adam Wood!"

Sanji then burst out of the kitchen onto the deck with a platter of steaming food in his hand. "Come on guys!" he shouted to the group working outside. "Eat fast to conserve your strength!"

Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Franky, Brook, and Nami immediately fell upon the chef, each taking a portion of the food and munching it down quickly before getting back to work. From inside, Boa Hancock looked out and said, "Luffy, come on inside! You're working yourself too hard!"

Luffy shook his head as he immediately returned to what he was doing. "No thanks Hancock, but you can stay in there where it's safer if you want!"

This caused Hancock to blush and put her hands up to her cheeks and shake her head, muttering something about how Luffy cared about her wellbeing.

"Raise the sails up quickly! We're catching a powerful wind!" Nami shouted to Zoro, who immediately went to work, employing his brute strength to raise the main sail up quickly.

"Franky, we might have a small leak on the bottom floor of the _Sunny_!" Chopper shouted from the inside of the ship.

Franky quickly raised up his hammer and ran inside, yelling, "I'm on it, don't worry! It'll be fixed in no time!"

"No Usopp, turn it more to port!" Nami shouted to the marksman who was currently steering the ship. "That's the left side! The left side!"

"What good does steering do in this weather anyway?" Usopp shouted as rain pelted his face. "In the end, it'll just take us wherever it wants."

"Just shut up and do it! This storm's actually working to our advantage!"

"What?"

For three days dialogue like this had taken place on the _Thousand Sunny_, and to the Straw Hat Crew, it almost became the norm. The group took turns in shifts, one half working on the deck, while the other half relaxed and regained their strength. Almost everyone was clocking in at no sleep, and shifts happened every couple of hours. At this point, the crew was exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep, save for Luffy, who seemed to still be in high spirits and never left the deck in shifts save to eat.

Indeed, for the past three days, the entire crew took a break between shifts for a short meal in the dining room where they talked. On this day, when the group was eating, Nami called the group to attention.

"I know everyone's a little on edge and tired right now," Nami started.

This was greeted by a chorus of sighs, as Zoro fell asleep at the table.

"But I wanted to let you know that this is all working to our advantage," Nami continued, ignoring the group's lack of enthusiasm.

"What do you mean?" inquired Robin.

"I mean the way the wind is blowing and how the waves are hitting us is actually _propelling_ us closer to Baltigo, taking us to Baltigo faster than if there was no storm at all," explained Nami. "In fact, if the weather—as horrible as it might be—keeps up like this, we should get to Baltigo some time tomorrow."

Luffy plowed through his food and was already eyeing the food that the sleeping Zoro hadn't touched, using his Gum-Gum powers to take it right off his plate.

"I suppose that's a bit of good luck, though it's not quite worth being drenched to the bone, yohoho!" laughed Brook.

Nami then clapped her hands together and said, "Alright, alright, chow time's over. Zoro, Franky, Usopp, and Brook, you're officially off shift. Chopper, Robin, Hancock, and Sanji, you're officially on shift now. Come on, let's hop to it."

"You sure you don't wanna take a break Nami?" asked Luffy with food still in his mouth. "You've been going almost as long as me."

"If I took a break, we'd all be long dead," stated Nami. "Besides, I wanna keep this storm working to our advantage."

With that, Chopper, Robin, Sanji, Hancock, Nami, and Luffy left the room to go and work on deck, while Franky, Brook, and Usopp went to try and get some sleep.

They all left Zoro right where he was, with his face on the table.

— — —

Luckily, Nami's instincts led her to the correct conclusion. At ten o'clock A.M. the next day, she happily reported to the group while they all ate their late breakfast that Baltigo was not far ahead, and they'd be there by midday. This was met by the most energized cheer the group could muster (which at this point, wasn't much).

As the day slowly progressed, the storm slackened and got easier and easier, until, around one in the afternoon, there was no storm at all. Coincidentally, around this time, they saw their first glimpse at the outline of Baltigo and its massive spires it was famous for.

The happily exhausted crew took the remaining time to rest to rest, and by 2:30 P.M. the _Thousand Sunny_ was docked off the coast at the place the crew thought was the best and most concealing. They left Franky and Usopp to guard the ship, while the rest of the crew walked off and put their feet on solid ground.

They immediately noticed two things about Baltigo. The first was its massive spires made of pure rock, the second was that the ground was covered in white soil that looked like fresh snow, and the third was that the wind was constantly blowing.

"So this is Baltigo, the Land of White Soil," Robin found herself saying as she looked around.

"It certainly does look impressive," said Nami, equally amazed.

Sanji lit himself a cigarette and said, "So this is where the legendary Dragon likes to hang out, eh?"

"Never thought I'd end up here of all places," Hancock muttered. She then turned towards Luffy and asked, "What do you think of—"

She realized Luffy wasn't there, as he was already walking ahead of the group at a respectable pace, clearly eager to get moving. Zoro smirked and followed his lead. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained; let's go meet this Dragon."

The island itself wasn't that big, and as the Straw Hats trekked through its landscape, it became clear that it was completely uninhabitable. Occasionally they came across a small animal, but it quickly scattered away in fear of the intruders. There was little to no plant life, as most of the floor was solid rock covered in white soil.

"What a depressing landscape," Chopper commented, looking around. "All the animals we've come across display a certain amount of fear. It must be hard for them."

"Why would anyone want a place like this to be their home?" Brook asked. "All this wind is starting to chap my skin…oh wait, I have no skin, yohoho!"

"Makes for a perfect place to hide out," Zoro said. "Its flat levels make it well known if anyone steps foot on this land, its harsh environment keeps civilians and pirates away, and I'm sure Dragon's well entrenched in this landscape, making it a perfect fort as well."

"Maybe he just likes wind," Sanji suggested, dropping his finished cigarette.

All discussion ended for a while, as the group followed Luffy, who seemed to be going in random directions, yet everyone knew he was following his instincts, and it would eventually land them in the right place.

Eventually, they came across what looked to be the makings of a campsite. There were a few makeshift tents and in the middle was wood for a fire that looked like it was hastily put out. The group inspected it, and guessed that whoever was there was there recently.

"Guess there are some people that like hanging out here," Chopper said. "Judging by the smell of the wood though, they probably left sometime late morning."

"I don't like the feeling of this," Nami said, looking around skeptically.

Robin surprisingly nodded. "If it's Dragon we're dealing with, that's what you _should_ be feeling."

Then, from out of nowhere, a large group of armed men appeared surrounding the group and aiming guns at them. Then, a voice said, "Don't move."

Zoro and Sanji immediately went into action. Sanji threw a quick kick towards one of the men, but he threw up his own kick and surprisingly countered it. Zoro drew two swords and went to attack, but was blocked by some strange-shaped metallic objects.

Then, they heard an all-too familiar voice step up and say to his own men, "Alright, that's enough Candy-Boys and Girls. Ve've gotten our point across!"

"Huh, that couldn't be…" Nami started.

The man stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself to be Ivankov. "That's right, it's me, the great Queen of the Kamabakka Kingdom!"

"Ivankov!" immediately shouted an ecstatic Luffy.

"Ah shit…" Sanji muttered.

Surprisingly, the man who countered his kick sighed with him and responded, "I know what you mean."

The man revealed himself and Robin immediately said, "Splint!"

Splint smiled and tipped his bucket hat in respect. "Long time no see Miss Robin. Nice to see you all again."

Zoro suddenly had his sword wretched free and Inazuma stepped forward, changing the scissors back into hands again. "Who would have thought I'd see you guys again Crab-chan and Ivankov!" Luffy said. He looked at Splint and tilted his head quizzically. "Who're you?"

"Just a humble revolutionary, don't mind me," Splint said, lighting a cigarette. "We were sent here to go and pick you guys up."

"Then why did you aim guns at us?" questioned Nami angrily.

"Well we had to test you first," Splint simply replied.

Nami threw an angry kick at him, hitting him square in the stomach, saying, "Test my ass!"

"Come on Candy-Boys and Girls," Ivankov said to the Straw Hats and the revolutionaries. "Dragon vould like us to take you to him now."

The Straw Hats followed the revolutionaries willingly, as they seemed to follow a very specific path, and soon enough came by a river cutting straight through the island.

"It's hard to find the entrance to this river if you don't know where to look," Inazuma said to the Straw Hats. "We'll show you later and you could dock your ship closer to our headquarters."

Soon enough, the Straw Hats passed through a series of campsites, where several revolutionaries looked up from their business to survey the group coming through. "This is where we keep most of the revolutionaries," Splint said. "Only the real important ones get to hang out where Dragon does."

"You just leave them all out here?" asked Chopper.

"Dragon says the harshness is good for 'em," Splint responded. "Besides, we have a buncha revolutionaries camped all around Baltigo so they can alert to us to whatever's going down on the island."

Not too long after, they came upon a stone spire much larger than the rest. At the top was a large mansion. "And here's vhere Dragon himself resides," Ivankov explained.

They followed them up the winding staircase that was seemingly carved into the spire, and after a tiring walk, they reached the top of the spire, where the mansion resided. They walked through the large double-doors and immediately saw a large amount of activity going on.

Several revolutionaries were running around the main room shouting things at others and disappearing into various rooms. "It's a bitch trying to talk to every revolutionary we planted around the world," Splint said, "so it's usually chaotic around here."

They took a few steps in and walked up the staircase, then hung a quick right. They went down a large hallway, and soon enough they reached the door at the end of it. Only the Straw Hat Crew, Splint, and Ivankov remained at this point (as Inazuma took the rest of the group escorting them to conduct business elsewhere).

"And this is where the Boss himself resides," Splint said, putting his door on the handle. "When he's not conducting business, of course. You sure you're ready to meet him?"

Luffy nodded, Splint opened the door.

A powerful burst of energy immediately sprang from the darkened room when the door was opened, hitting the group. Splint stood his ground and said, "We brought 'em like you said, Boss."

Then, from the darkness, a voice said, "Good, bring them in."

The Straw Hats stepped into the room while Splint and Ivankov followed from behind. They walked through most of the room and saw Dragon sitting in a chair at the wall opposite from them. He opened his eyes and surveyed the group.

Finally, Luffy stepped forward and said boldly, "Hello Dad."

Monkey D. Dragon smiled and said, "Hey there Son, nice to see you could make it."

* * *

Face-to-face with his father!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	80. Lift the Shrouded Veil

What can come from this meeting? Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**80: Lift the Shrouded Veil**

Silence reigned in Dragon's room for several seconds, mostly because everyone was looking at the imposing figure of Dragon himself. Most of the Straw Hats had seen Dragon's wanted poster issued by the World Government, yet a still photo couldn't do his presence justice. He looked exactly as they expected, but there was something else about him…something like an air of confidence he exhumes. This combined with his imposing figure and never-faltering smile set both the Straw Hats at ease that he knew what he was doing, and frightened them, as they didn't know exactly _what_ he was planning.

After Luffy had surveyed the father he had never known, he finally held his ground and said, "So why did you want us to come here? In case you didn't know, we were chasing someone very deadly who—URGH!"

An uncontrollable pressure suddenly fell upon Luffy, freezing him on the spot. Eventually, his trembling legs gave way and he dropped to his knees, breathing heavily and looking at Dragon with a form of confusion. Dragon, meanwhile, simply smirked at his son.

"Get over yourself boy," the revolutionary finally said. "You're 100 years too early to be issuing anything from me."

After that was said, the pressure was lifted off of Luffy, and he dropped on his hands and knees, sweating heavily and breathing raggedly. He looked up at Dragon with a certain amount of anger intensifying.

"You think I don't _know_ already?" Dragon scoffed. "You think I don't know about Victor or what he's doing? I know exactly what's going on, and I even know what Victor is doing right now, so believe me when I say he's a bit sidetracked right now and not moving."

At this point Luffy had regained his composure and stood up again, adjusting the straw hat on his head, leaving the Straw Hat Crew, Splint, and Ivankov to wonder about his wellbeing.

"Alright…" Luffy said at last. "You don't expect us to come here and just leave then, right? So if you want to let us in on something, or help us, we'll stay. If you have nothing to offer, we'll just be on our way."

With that, Dragon let out a raucous laugh that lasted for several seconds.

"The Boss sure is kinda creepy when he gets like this," Splint whispered to Ivankov, who nodded in agreement.

"On your way, you say?" Dragon asked through his bouts of laughter. "Son, if it weren't for me, you'd have been long dead or captured."

"What are you talking about?" Luffy demanded, feeling anger rising in him.

Dragon stopped his laughter and explained. "Who was the one who saved you from Smoker at Roguetown? Who was the one who made sure that your crew landed on islands where they could easily escape from when Kuma scattered them all?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked a curious Zoro, also not too keen on Dragon's smug attitude.

"You didn't know?" feigned Dragon. "Well good old Bartholomew Kuma was once a revolutionary, until he signed over with the Shichibukai of course. In fact, I bet you didn't know this either, but the only reason he signed on _with_ the Shichibukai was so that he could get in close with the Marines and the World Government…a double-agent, one might say."

"What does that matter now?" Sanji asked. "That guys a complete robot and there seem to be more than one of them."

"Indeed, things didn't go exactly as we planned," Dragon said. "Somehow—and even I don't know how they did it—but Dr. Vegapunk managed to sign Kuma on to his robotics experiment. However, he was still able to retain his original mind, and that was still somewhat loyal to us."

"Until recently," Ivankov cut in. "Those World Government bastards actually managed to kill Kuma completely. Now, he's just a mindless robot."

"Until Mihawk took care of him," Dragon added, "but that's a story for another day. The point is that when he met you on Sabaody Archipelago, he still retained his original mind and loyalty. Why do you think he didn't kill you all at Thriller Bark or at Sabaody Archipelago for that matter?"

The crew remained silent, starting to fit the pieces together.

"It's because he knew that you were my son." Dragon pointed to Luffy. "And before he scattered your crew, we had one last conversation. Ironically, it was about Victor himself, and how he was finally starting to gather his forces and make a move."

Nami shook her head in disgust. "So Victor was plotting even back then?"

"When Kuma told me he was ordered to kill you and how it was getting harder and harder for him to resist the World Government's control," Dragon continued, without a hitch. "So I gave him one final order as a revolutionary to spite the World Government. The first was that he would whisper to Silvers Rayleigh, that it was likely Luffy would be a target for Victor, and how he should keep an eye on him just in case."

Luffy looked up with amazement. "So that's why…"

Dragon nodded. "Looks like it paid off that night on the _Thousand Sunny_. It seems he purposely dragged out the coating process so he could keep checking up on you, and that one fateful night when Victor had his hand in your chest, he saved you."

_(Luffy looked up to see Silvers Rayleigh standing there with a grimace on his face. "I come for some late night coating and this is what I find…")_

"And of course, I told Kuma to send you all to places around the world where I was positive your more than competent crew could find their way back," Dragon said.

He looked at Sanji, Robin, and Chopper, and then at Splint and Ivankov.

"Of course…some of your crew needed a bit more help than others," Dragon continued. "And I personally sent Miss Robin to Tequila Wolf to get her interest back in history again, but I'll explain more about that later."

Robin flinched.

Dragon looked at Splint and said, "It was also good old Commander Splint here, who let Rayleigh know that Victor was going after Poseidon next, and he was more than happy to disable Kaido and save your ass again Luffy."

Dragon looked at Luffy, but the Straw Hat Captain averted his gaze from his father.

Monkey D. Dragon cracked a smile and continued, "And as one final parting gift, I had Ivankov, Splint, and Inazuma give you this eternal pose so we could have a nice and happy family reunion. So you see, I know much more than you give me credit for, and if I wasn't for me looking out for you Son, you would have been dead long ago."

"But that still doesn't explain _why_ you want us here," Nami broke in. "Surely you didn't drag us here just to tell us how you've been helping us on our journey all this time."

"You'd be correct Miss Navigator," replied Dragon. "And while it might surprise you to hear this, but I don't mind Victor that much. In fact, he has actively aided our cause by duping the World Government and disbanding the Shichibukai. Of course, I couldn't overlook the whole 'trying to kill my only son' thing, but I could have easily left it at that after Rayleigh saved you on your own ship."

Sanji raised an eyebrow. "Then what are we doing here then?"

Dragon sighed and said, "I'm doing this because I know my idiot son, and I know he wouldn't let Victor go, and would endlessly chase him. And honestly, what kind of father would I be if I willingly let my son die?"

"So you came to stop us from chasing Victor?" inquired Luffy. "Because if that's why we're here, I'm afraid you've wasted your time."

"So disrespectful to his elders," Dragon mused quietly. "No, my idiot son, I know you better than that, and I know that nothing is going to shatter your resolve on this matter. No, rather I'm here to _help_ you fight Victor because while he's not a threat to the Revolutionaries yet, I know that one day he will be, so it might be best to get rid of him now."

"Help us how?" asked Chopper.

"As I'm sure my own father—Monkey D. Garp—has made quite clear," answered Dragon, "Victor has a keen Achilles Heel, despite all the evidence to the contrary."

Luffy understood and muttered only one word: "Haki."

Dragon nodded. "That's right Son, Haki. He may control a plethora of devil fruits at will, but it means nothing to the powers of Haki, who's main goal is to cancel out any devil fruit power. And you, my Son, have the gift of Haoshoku Haki, the most powerful Haki of them all."

"Haoshoku?" muttered Brook, thinking he remembered a word like that back when he was a Rumbar pirate.

"You mean that power that makes everyone stop what they're doing?" Luffy asked, remembering several instances when this has happened.

Dragon nodded. "A side product when one lacks control. Unfortunately, you only have the power to use it unconsciously and only when you're extremely upset or angry. However, if you were able to harness that power and use it whenever you want, then that would just about even up the fight with Victor, don't you think?"

Luffy only nodded, knowing he was speaking the truth.

"That's why you're here Son," stated Dragon. "We will teach you how to harness the powers of Haki consciously, and if we're lucky, you'll get a handle on how to use Haoshoku Haki as well. With that, there should be no excuse as to why you can't fight Victor."

Suddenly, Luffy got very excited at the prospect to fight Victor on even terms. "Alright!" he nearly shouted. "When do we start?"

"We can start as soon as we end this conversation," Dragon said. "And Commander Splint—who also has an adept sense on how to use his own personal Haki—will be happy to train you in the beginning and will teach you how to use regular Haki—not Haoshoku—in your everyday fighting style."

Luffy looked at Splint, who tipped his bucket hat and put out his current cigarette. "I'll be happy to show you the ropes on how to control your Haki. Haoshoku Haki, however, is way outta my league of expertise and it'll be up to the Boss himself to teach ya that."

Dragon nodded. "And I'll show you how to control that after I deal with some other business first, which brings me to the next stage in the conversation."

Dragon suddenly looked at Nico Robin, who seemed to nod and know what the subject would be about.

"So tell me Nico Robin, what do you think of my knowledge on history?" asked the grinning revolutionary.

Robin matched his smile and replied, "That's exactly what I'd like to know. I tried to acquire this information earlier, but it seems your associate Splint was less than willing to talk."

"What can I say?" Splint cut in from the back. "I take my work very seriously."

"Indeed," Dragon said, ignoring his fellow revolutionary. "But don't blame the poor Commander, he was only following orders. Tell me Nico Robin, what if I told you that I only have the most rudimentary grasp on historical matters involving the Void Century?"

"I'd say you were lying," Robin responded, quick as lightning.

"And why is that?"

Robin thought about it for a second, and finally, realizing she didn't have a lot of evidence to support her claim, said, "You knew about Tequila Wolf and how they've been building bridges there for 700 years—right around the time the Void Century ended."

Dragon laughed and replied, "Even an idiot would be able to put two-and-two together for that one. No, I'm afraid all I know about the Void Century is when it started and stopped."

Robin looked a bit surprised by this. She had simply assumed Dragon knew all about history. She hadn't considered the possibility that he was clueless in this subject.

"Which is where you come in," Dragon continued. "I'll admit I didn't bring you all here simply because I wanted to train Luffy. It also doubled as having the one woman who can read Poneglyphs come here as well."

Everyone immediately looked at Robin.

Dragon grinned yet again and rose up his index finger, looking directly at Robin. "I, Miss Robin, happen to have in my possession, a picture of every Poneglyph that is on this planet—save for the Rio Poneglyph of course."

Robin was taken aback at this information. "You really have all of the ancient writing here?"

Dragon nodded. "Indeed I do. What I need you for, however, is to translate all of the Poneglyphs, and decipher the Void Century. When you've done that, you must let me know of it as well."

"But why go through so much trouble?" asked Nami.

Dragon shook his head and said, "Whatever reason the World Government banned the research of Poneglyphs for, I'm gonna find out. And then armed with this new knowledge of the Void Century, I'm going to unleash my plan to finally overthrow the World Government once and for all."

Robin simply stood there, too stunned to speak. She never would have imagined she would be able to see all of the Poneglyphs at once. Dragon sensed this and stood up, walking over to her.

"Come Nico Robin, I'll happily show you where we have the enlarged pictures of the Poneglyphs," he said, seeming to glide past her.

Robin only nodded and followed.

Dragon looked to Splint and said, "Take Luffy and start the training. I want him to be well-versed in how to use Busoshoku Haki by the time I start to train him."

Splint nodded and lit another cigarette. "Will do Boss."

Dragon cast one last glance at the rest of the Straw Hats and said, "You can bring your ship down the river and dock it right in front of this mansion. Feel free to train or do whatever you want."

With that, he and Nico Robin disappeared.

Splint nodded at Luffy and said, "I have the perfect place for us to train. Now if you would follow me."

Luffy smiled and happily followed Splint, still fired up about fighting Victor yet again.

When they left, Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, Nami, and Brook stood in the room in silence. Nami finally looked around and asked, "So what are we gonna do now?"

Zoro started to leave and say, "Let's go bring the ship in, and after that, I'm gonna go and train with some of those swordsmen revolutionaries. Got nothing better to do, right?"

Nami sighed and put her hand to her face. "Guess it's a few days of relaxation for me."

Chopper tugged at Brook's pant leg and said, "That Dragon really is something, huh?"

Brook nodded and replied, "There might have been such an upstart back in the day, but this is too much to take in at face value…Oh wait, I have no face, yohohoho!"

* * *

The time for preparation is now!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	81. History and Haki

To the Poneglyphs... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**81: History and Haki**

"It's taken several years to stockpile all of this information on the Poneglyphs," Dragon said to Robin as he led her to his archive. "Sending revolutionaries all across the globe equipped with only a camera to record the history." He looked over at Robin. "Of course it wasn't always easy."

Robin nodded in seeming agreement. "Some of the people who were charge to protect them wouldn't cooperate then?"

"Sometimes force was needed to employ," stated Dragon without an ounce of regret in his voice. "However, we rarely ever killed anyone. Besides, it was all for the greater good of uncovering the secrets of the Void Century."

"No need to justify your actions in front of me," Robin replied quickly. "I know firsthand of the horrors the World Government has done to cover this up, and I'm sure what you've done to achieve your goals is nothing compared to what they have done."

Dragon let out a small chuckle. "I suppose you're right."

The Archive Room (as Dragon called it) was located in the basement of the mansion. Dragon explained to Robin that it was the most secure room in the entire house, and for good reason. Dragon walked Robin down the final flight of stairs and stopped at a barred metal door.

"The Poneglyphs only tell the history of the Void Century when read as one," Dragon stated. "I've spent years of painstaking research to discover which order to properly configure them, but I've done it, and the end result is all in this room."

Robin nodded and said, "Looks like you've achieved what I've only dreamed of."

"But you're still needed to interpret it," Dragon said. "Unfortunately we don't have the Rio Poneglyph documented, but we should know almost everything about the Void Century when you're done. Are you truly ready, Nico Robin?"

"I've been ready since I was eight years old," said Robin. "Let me in."

"As you wish," Dragon said, unbarring the door and opening it wide.

Robin got a look and was trembling in excitement. It was a massive square room with incredible lighting, leaving not a corner of that room darkened. The most surprising to Robin, however, was that the entire wall was covered with expanded pictures of Poneglyphs and their writing. Robin gasped and took a step in, inspecting every inch of the wall, as if to see if it was real or not.

"Every side of every Poneglyph in the world," Dragon said, walking in with her, "arranged in the pattern needed to finally unravel the mystery. I've done all I can, but now it's up to you, Nico Robin, to end the nightmare of not knowing once and for all."

A single tear rolled down Robin's eye as she realized that her dream had been accomplished. In front of her now, was what was needed to realize the dream every scholar at Ohara had had. She looked and saw that in the middle of the room was a massive table with everything needed on it, be it pen, paper, or books.

"Take all the time you need," said Dragon, sensing Robin's excitement. "We've equipped you with everything you need to make the proper translations. We have a library on the floor above this one in case you need to reference anything that may have been recorded in the past. I only require that you don't mess up the translations, and when you're done and have the entire history written down, you tell me everything."

Robin wandered away from the revolutionary halfway through his little speech to the first wall where the translations were. She touched the picture and then looked completely enveloped in it, blocking everything else in reality.

Dragon smirked and began to walk out of the room, offering his final words. "You know where to find me when I'm done…Good luck, Nico Robin."

With that, he closed the door, leaving Robin with her dream.

— — —

While Dragon was leading Robin to her destiny, Splint alternatively was leading Luffy to aid him in his training. He walked him out of the mansion and began to lead him down the giant spire they had just scaled. Not being one for silence, Splint tried to create small-talk with the Straw Hat Captain.

Lighting a cigarette, the revolutionary asked, "So how well do you know the Boss?"

Luffy looked at him with a second of confusion, and then said: "You mean my Dad? I don't know anything about him. He left before I could remember him, leaving Grandpa in my care. Before this, I didn't even know what he looked like."

Amused at his last statement, he said, "You seemed pretty confident when you talked to him back there that he was your Dad. How'd you know you weren't mistaken?"

"I didn't," Luffy quickly replied, causing Splint to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. "I just…knew it was him when I saw him. I don't know how to explain it, but that's how I knew."

Splint let out a small laugh and puffed on his cigarette. "Don't worry about it kid, I understand perfectly; bonds to families and all that shit."

"Do you have a family Mr. Splint?" Luffy asked, now curious at his last response.

"Me?" inquired Splint, pointing to himself. "Nah, just like you, I didn't even know what they even look like. Unlike you, however, I never will be able to know."

"What do you mean?"

Splint flicked his finished cigarette over the edge of the spire they were still walking on, and answered. "When I was just a toddler, my parents were killed by pirates. Fortunately, they seemed to find me amusing and let me live."

Luffy cocked his head. "Pirates killed your parents?"

Splint nodded. "However, it was only until later that I learned the World Government _hired_ those pirates to clear out our tiny little village so they can put some prime new real estate for the World Noble's vacation houses. Luckily, the Boss caught wind of this and was able to run the pirates out before they destroyed everything. But for me, the damage was done."

Splint paused and lit himself a new cigarette, while Luffy only listened intently.

"Anyways," Splint said, taking a drag, "the Boss saw it fit to take in a little pissant like me as a…let's say foster orphan for a future revolutionaries. I was trained in fighting, got well-versed in what the World Government was doing, and learned how to infiltrate and liberate islands."

Splint suddenly stopped, and Luffy followed suit. The revolutionary looked at Luffy and beamed widely. "Your Dad really is a great man. If it wasn't for him, I'd be dead, so I'm more than happy to do anything for him. I would suggest that when all this is done, you get to know him better, and maybe even bond with him, unlike how I could with my own family."

Luffy nodded respectfully as Splint started to move again. Silence reigned until they reached the bottom of the spire, and Splint walked him a little past it until he stopped him in an open area, not too far from where the mansion stood.

Splint threw out his cigarette and adjusted his bucket hat. "Although you may not see them, revolutionary camps are set up all around here, so we'll be one of the first to know if something goes down."

Luffy nodded as the wind breezed past him. He was eager to begin his training. "So what's first then?"

Splint smiled and threw out his cigarette. "First, a little lesson on what Haki actually is—or so what we think it is."

Luffy shuffled impatiently, wanting to start as soon as possible. Splint sensed this and said, "Don't worry, it won't take long. People have theorized and debated about what Haki actually is, but to put it in layman's terms, Haki is the power to channel ones 'will' into an attack, destabilizing an opponent."

Luffy nodded and added, "Not many people can use it, I've noticed."

"That's right, kid," Splint grinned. "It seems to take someone with a strong willpower to produce Haki, although everyone has the power to unleash it with enough practice and knowledge; a good indicator on if someone has a strong will or not, is if they're able to withstand a direct Haki blast without fainting. Although it doesn't necessarily mean that person _can_ produce Haki, it shows that he has the potential to in time."

"I see," Luffy said, scratching his head.

Splint raised three fingers into the air at Luffy. "Now, generally Haki is divided into three broad categories. The first is known as Kenbunshoku Haki, or simply, the Observation Haki. Have you ever felt a moment where you thought you could predict something that was gonna happen…before it happened?"

Luffy immediately thought of his duel with Hawk-Eye Mihawk at Marineford and how he was able to predict the World's Greatest Swordsman would sever his arm before he even attacked. He nodded, saying, "Yeah, I do…"

"That's an example of Kenbunshoku Haki," explained Splint. "Now looking at your track record, I'd imagine that kind of occurrence is pretty rare, right?"

Luffy nodded, becoming hard-pressed thinking of any other examples.

Splint puffed on his cigarette, saying, "Thought so. No worries, it just means you're not so inclined to that type of Haki. The second form is known as Haoshoku Haki, however, the only thing I know about that is the fact that at its weakest and most uncontrolled, it has the power to knock the weaker-willed out. But if it can be harnessed and controlled, it can be your greatest power…"

Luffy stood silent, taking the revolutionary's words in.

Splint grinned again and said, "Fortunately, it's not my job to teach you that form of Haki, so let's talk about the type of Haki I _will_ be training you on, the Busoshoku Haki."

"Busoshoku?"

Splint nodded. "Also known as the Armament Haki, I find that its powers are the most useful against Devil Fruit-Users. If you're able to get the hang of it, not only will you be able to attack Logia Fruit-Users, but you'll be able to freeze _any_ Devil Fruit-User up from afar and cancel out their powers with just a burst of it. Get it?"

Luffy stared at Splint with a blank expression on his face, tilting his head to the side.

Splint sighed, taking off his bucket hat and running his hand through his hair. "I thought not…perhaps a demonstration is in order."

"Huh?" Luffy asked, but Splint was already moving in action.

Before Luffy knew it, Splint was right in front of Luffy, cocking back both his arms in preparation for attack. "Hey, wai—" Luffy started.

"Revolutionary Style: Bull's Twin Strike!"

Splint launched both punches at the same time, and they both hit Luffy dead in the chest at once, sending him grunting in pain and flying to the floor. Splint stood there, lit another cigarette, and then adjusted his hat while Luffy finally got up.

"Hurt, didn't it Rubber-Man?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, it did," Luffy replied.

"Now _that_ was Busoshoku Haki," Splint said. "Sure, predicting attacks or knocking out weaklings is all fine and good, but against Devil Fruit-Users, Buoshoku's power is unmatched. You normally don't feel any blunt attacks, but for a split second, I was able to focus my Haki into a single attack, and it cancelled out your Devil Fruit power, making you feel the full force of my strike."

Luffy nodded and said, "I get it."

"Now, for the actual training," Splint said. "It took me several years to develop my Haki, and even then, I could only use it for a split second; it is _not_ easy to utilize, and even harder to control."

"So how do I get it to come out, if I have the power?" Luffy asked.

Splint was silent, contemplating for a second, before finally answering, "It's different for everyone, kid. The best advice I can give is to focus all of your power on what you're looking at, kinda like you're givin' him a death-stare…if that makes any sense."

Luffy adjusted his straw hat and said, "Alright, I think I understand."

Splint blew smoke out of his mouth and said, "If you really understand it, then try and hit me while using it."

"That's it?" asked a slightly-surprised Luffy. "Alright…"

Luffy rushed straight at Luffy, cocking back his fist and attempting to channel his energy while staring at Splint. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

Splint easily dodged the strike and appeared right behind Luffy. He brought back his right fist and struck Luffy right in the back of his head, saying, "Wrong!"

Luffy hit the floor and rubbed the back of his head. He knew that Splint had used Haki to damage him again. "What was that for? You didn't even let me hit you, so how do you know if I used Haki or not?"

Splint let out a snort and said, "You think I'm just gonna let you wail on me? Get real, kid. Trust me, I'll know if you used Haki or not."

"How?"

Splint removed his bucket hat and scratched the back of his head before saying, "If you're going up against a Devil Fruit-User, whenever you invoke the powers of Busoshoku Haki, the person momentarily freezes up and is unable to do anything, allowing you to get your strike in."

"Really?" Luffy asked, remembering back to any instances this may have happened when he witnessed Haki.

Splint sighed and then nodded. "That's right, kid. That bonus gives Haki an extra advantage against people with devil fruits. So basically, I'll wait until the last minute to dodge, and if I can't, then I know you'll have used Haki. If not, well then, I guess I'll just keep pelting you until you get it straight."

Luffy shook his head, but then suddenly got inspired and struck up a fighting stance. "Alright, let's do it!"

Splint smiled and said, "Now try again, and we won't stop until you've belted me good!"

— — —

It was night the next day, and inside his own personal chambers, Dragon gathered everyone who was interested in learning of the Void Century. He had just recently got a message from Robin that she had translated everything, and Dragon immediately told her to get to him as soon as possible. Quickly going to work, Dragon got the word out, and all those interested were now in his chambers.

Among them were a few scattering revolutionaries (mostly the more senior members), among whom were Ivankov and Inazuma (Splint respectfully declined as he was still training Luffy). From the Straw Hat Crew, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Franky, and Brook joined (Zoro not so respectfully declined, saying he was training with several revolutionary swordsmen).

The many candles around Dragon's room burned and flickered brightly as they eagerly anticipated what Robin was going to say. After what seemed like forever, she finally entered the room, looking a bit disheveled and clearly very tired, and she looked rather solemn, holding a large amount of paper in her hand.

"Welcome Nico Robin," Dragon said first. "I trust that written on that paper is the history of the Void Century?"

Robin nodded.

Without waiting, Dragon said somewhat impatiently, "Then tell us of the history that the World Government is so quick to try and cover up."

Robin nodded again as she looked at all the eager faces around the room, closer her eyes, and finally said, "Alright…I'll tell you everything…"

* * *

Revelations of the Void Century!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	82. Filling the Void

The past unfolding! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**82: Filling the Void**

The subject of the Void Century is not something that can be contained within a simple 100 year span. Rather, what first must be examined are the events that took place before it, the events that were known as a trigger for what would later be known as the Great War. Indeed, we first need to go back to eight years before the Void Century had happened…

_The Ancient Kingdom  
925 years ago/597 AOS  
3 years before the Void Century  
_

_The Ancient Kingdom had everything, it seemed._

_They had wealth, power, and a long-reach of influence throughout the world. The kingdom had been around so long, that no one (even residents within the Kingdom itself) knew exactly how it first came to be. Historians of the Ancient Kingdom estimate that it was in fact the first base of civilization that mankind had known, and as such, was the oldest kingdom in the world, giving it seniority over every other civilization._

_Of course, being the first always has its advantages. They were a global superpower, the kingdom that had the power to tell others what they could or couldn't do. Their military might was unmatched, and for as long as anyone could remember, they dominated the earth._

_This does not mean, however, that the Ancient Kingdom ruled with an iron fist and unite every kingdom under its border. Rather, the Ancient Kingdom itself was relegated to only a single island (although the island itself was massive in its own right). The Ancient Kingdom made it a point to not physically take over any other nations, as they didn't see a real need to._

_Instead, they held political sway over everyone, telling other kingdoms what they could or couldn't do. Whenever there was a crisis abound, everyone turned to the Ancient Kingdom for guidance, and they always played it to their advantage, ensuring that their kingdom would always be the most powerful. However, they didn't impose any form of government upon anyone and seldom threatened anyone with force (although they never needed to say it; it was always an unspoken understanding)._

_Due to them generally staying out of other countries affairs (except for when it benefitted them or not), the Ancient Kingdom was fairly popular and stayed in command, always coming out on top of any conflict._

_Like all other types of civilizations in the day, the Ancient Kingdom was a monarchy, although unlike most, the Kings there seemed content with their life and system—along with the people as well, of course—and rarely did anything brash or out of place. The kings simply existed as figureheads of order, but in terms of actual oppression that monarchies seemed to have been well-known for in those days, there were none._

_For more than 300 years, the kings of the Ancient Kingdom were dominated by a single bloodline, the Romanov family. After every king either died or retired, his oldest son would always take his place without any muss or fuss, and the balance of power was restored. Another interesting trait was that ever since the Romanov's ruled, every king has had the initial "D." for their middle name._

_In the year 597 AOS, the current king went by the name of Marin D. Romanov. He had ruled for more than thirty years, and was getting to be in his late fifties, yet it was not enough to hinder his abilities to rule properly. On one particular night, however, things took a turn for the worst, and it started with Marin talking to his grandson, Mark D. Romanov, before the latter went to sleep._

_"Grandpa, Grandpa," said the five year old Mark, holding his hands up while in his bed. "Before I go to bed, tell me that bedtime story again."_

_Marin chuckled and said, "It's not just a 'bedtime' story. It's a very special poem about this kingdom and the Romanov line."_

_"I just like the words," Mark smiled innocently. _

_Marin couldn't help but laugh at this and patted Mark on the head. "I bet you do. Alright, but don't tell your father I'm doing this."_

_Mark smiled and moved his finger over his lips, indicating he would be silent on the subject._

_Marin closed his eyes and said, "Alright, here we go: 'Son of man, you cannot—' "_

_Marin was cut off as his own personal advisor stepped in and strode up to him, bearing news Marin himself had been dreading._

_"Milord, the emissary from the Alliance has just arrived," he whispered in his ear._

_Marin sighed and stood up. "Very well, tell him to meet me in the Hall of Diplomacy so we can speak privately."_

_The advisor bowed and said, "Yes, Milord."_

_"But what about the story, Grandpa?" inquired Mark._

_"You've heard it a thousand times already Mark," Marin smiled, patting him on the head again. "You can bear not to hear it this one time."_

_With that, King Marin left his grandson to deal with the problem at hand._

_Sure enough, not too long after the issue was ordered, both Marin and emissary met in the Hall of Diplomacy, which itself was a single room with a large table in the middle of it. Adorning the walls were the paintings of the previous kings of the Romanov family._

_The emissary sat down and smiled at the king, bringing up a bottle of wine. "No reason we can't start this off with a little toast, eh?" he asked._

_The king couldn't help but smile and reply, "Of course not…Mr.?"_

_"Caire," the emissary answered. "Caire will do just fine for my name."_

_"Caire, eh?" inquired Marin as he opened the bottle and began to pour it into two glasses. He held up his glass and then finished, "Well then, cheers."_

_Caire clinked his glass with Marin's, and when they both downed their drinks, Caire went straight to business. "I assume you know I'm a representative of the Twenty Kingdoms."_

_Marin nodded._

_Caire raised an eyebrow and then asked, "I assume you know the Twenty Kingdoms, then?"_

_"I do," replied a humorless Marin._

_Caire, however, seemed to find this very funny as he clasped his hands and rubbed them together. "Then why don't you tell me what you've heard?"_

_"A little over five years ago, twenty kings decided to band together and create their own form of government," stated Marin. "Most of them were well-versed in military strategies and conflicts, but each also having their own area of expertise, be it diplomacy, weapon crafting, or whatnot. Due to this, you've gained power quickly and stand as one of the few that can rival my own kingdom."_

_Caire snickered and said, "Well said, your majesty, well said. However, your kingdom's not been one to stand for other kingdoms rising in power, and yet even for these past five years, you haven't done anything. Why is that?"_

_"Because you've done nothing to force our hand," Marin replied quietly. "You were formed under diplomatic means, and have yet to forcefully take over a country, despite having the potential to. Due to this inaction, there was nothing we can do."_

_"Correct," Caire smirked. "However, that's exactly what I'm here to talk to you about today. You see, after five years of slowly growing in strength, the Alliance—do you mind if I call it the Alliance?—has grown, shall we say, a little restless."_

_Marin kept his eyes closed and didn't respond. Caire continued anyway._

_"You see, the Alliance's goal is not to simply have a mere twenty kingdoms under its control, but the whole world under its control."_

_This prompted Marin to open his eyes and look at Caire—who was still smiling—with a look of surprise on his face. "You don't mean—"_

_"Yes!" replied a gleeful Caire, cutting Marin off, "Complete and utter domination of every kingdom in the world. We would unite those squabbling monarch under our command!"_

_Marin sighed and slumped back slightly in his chair. "You know we can't allow such an action to take place. It's our duty as the world's superpower to make sure things like this _don't_ happen."_

_"Such a single-minded way of seeing things," Caire said. "Now comes the good part, however. The rulers of the Alliance are no fools, and know that they'd have to start small and take over only small neighboring countries first, slowly building their own power. However, as you said before, this Kingdom has set a precedence on what to do if there's any forms of takeover going on."_

_"You'd be correct."_

_"Which is why," the emissary continued, "I'm here today. On behalf of the Alliance, I would like to extend a personal treaty between both countries. With it, there would be no need for retaliation, and we could split the world in half, fifty-fifty. With both of our powers combined, we should be able to play the domination game quite easily, don't you think."_

_This prompted King Marin D. Romanov to stand up and seethe with anger at Caire. "We will _not_—under any circumstances—tolerate any form of imperialism. Not if my Kingdom has anything to say about it!"_

_Caire, however, kept his relaxed state and simply replied, "Now that's an irrational stance. Your Kingdom's been in power for as long as anyone's known, yet you've never taken a country over."_

_"Because we have some form of values and don't wish to impose ourselves upon the less fortunate!" Marin stated angrily, still standing. "I repeat, under no circumstances will we tolerate imperialism. Now go back and tell that to the leaders of your Alliance!"_

_Caire, however, didn't move as he took the wine and drank it straight from the bottle. "Then it looks like we're at opposite ends of the spectrum."_

_"You're damn right we are!"_

_"Let's think about this for a minute then," said Caire, putting the wine bottle down. "Let's say that hypothetically we _did _take over a country. Would I be correct in assuming that this Kingdom would have to retaliate?"_

_Marin nodded. "You'd be correct."_

_Caire scratched the back of his head and said, "Well then, the result of that would be an absolute war between the two of us. Would you be alright with that?"_

_"I have a duty to protect countries that can't defend themselves," replied a proud Marin. "Yes, the result would be an absolute war. And let me tell you this Mr. Caire, if war were to happen, then it would be the Twenty Kingdom's that suffers greatly for it."_

_Caire couldn't help but laugh and reply, "Why, your majesty, I do believe you're underestimating us. It's quite true that your Kingdom is the most advanced technologically in the world, but over the past five years the Alliance has been grinding their own axes and building up a rather impressive military to match, if I do say so myself. I don't mean to brag, but if a war were to break out between us, there's no guarantee either of us would survive. The Alliance knows this, and thus, that is why I'm here, to try and put some sense into you and save both kingdoms a lot of trouble."_

_"You could always go back and tell your leaders not to take any country over, and the same result would happen."_

_Once again Caire laughed. "Sorry your majesty, no can do. The Alliance's goal from the very beginning was to create a colossal superpower and unite nations under its flag, and the only reason they haven't acted yet was because they knew they lacked the military might to challenge your Kingdom. But now, your majesty, we have enough power to repel and even defeat you. So if you insist on being irrational, I'm afraid we're going to have to continue with our plan of imperialism, and see what you'll do about it."_

_"You know what we'll do," scowled Marin._

_"Let's just say the time between now and then will let you clear your head, and hopefully see things our way," said Caire with his same grin. "But if not, the Alliance would be more than happy to give you the war you want. I personally am rather excited at the prospect of challenging the most powerful kingdom on earth. It would be like a game of global chess! Do you play chess, your majesty?"_

_"Get the hell out of my Kingdom," said Marin gruffly, point at the door._

_Caire downed the rest of the wine from the bottle and stood up. "As you wish, your majesty…"_

_Marin let Caire out of the Hall of Diplomacy, and even followed him back to the port where he docked his ship. However, silence reigned the entire way, and it appeared that Marin was still seething about what Caire had told him._

_They reached the ship, and Caire began to board. He bowed to the king and said, "I truly hope you consider our offer. However, if we don't get a response from you soon, the Alliance is going to continue with their plans and take over their neighboring countries. The ball is in your court now, your majesty, and I hope you consider the ramifications of your actions."_

_"I've considered them, all right," replied the king._

_"Then you'll suffer the consequences," Caire said, turning his back on Marin and getting on the ship, ordering his sailors to take off._

_When Caire was not too far out from the dock, Marin looked at his advisor and said very seriously, "Tell them to fire on the ship."_

_"Excuse me, your majesty," his advisor stammered, "but you must consider the consequences of attacking an unarmed emissary—"_

_"I've considered the consequences," replied a humorless Marin, "and it's exactly what we want. With this act, the Alliance will have no choice but to turn their attention to us and it will lead to war. However, with this war, the Alliance will forget about their ideas of conquest for fear of wasting their resources, and countless countries will be saved from their tyranny. Now put the order in."_

_"Milord," the advisor pleaded, "going to war with the Twenty Kingdoms isn't the most prudent decision if—"_

_"I SAID PUT IN THE ORDER!"_

_The advisor was taken aback by this sudden outburst, and finally said, "O-Of course, milord. It shall be done."_

_Within a minute, all of the cannons on the dock fired at Caire's ship, sinking it almost immediately in a massive fireball. _

_Marin D. Romanov scowled and said to himself, "So you want to play a game of global chess, eh, Twenty Kingdoms? Well bring it on. This Kingdom will not stand for imperialism, and I promise you that in the end, you will be no more."_

Marin's action did indeed spark a war between the Alliance and the Ancient Kingdom. However, neither side knew that the war would consume them for more than a century, and would eventually lead to the Ancient Kingdom's downfall.

* * *

The beginning of the conflict!

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	83. Filling the Void 2: The Dark Hour

Fast forward a bit, and... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**83: Filling the Void 2- The Dark Hour**

_The South Blue  
902 years ago/620 AOS  
20 years into the Void Century_

_"Admiral, the enemy fleet is approaching southeast to our position, just like the information said," stated a saluting marine to his captain, named Nielio._

_"What colors are they sporting?" the admiral asked._

_"Sir, their flags are very clear and there's no doubt," replied the marine. "The fleet belongs to the Alliance."_

_Nielio nodded and turned to the deck where the men were working. "To arms, the lot of you! We're to be engaging the Alliance fleet just as we expected!"_

_The marines quickly went to work arming themselves to the teeth._

_The Ancient Kingdom and the Alliance have been fighting for eighteen years now, and nothing yet has become of it. The battles started on land, but soon enough, it became prevalent to the Ancient Kingdom that they needed a military force on the sea as well. Knowing this, King Marin D. Romanov created a new special force to fight on the sea—Marines he called then—and they engaged in several small skirmishes with the Alliance several times. However, the biggest naval battle was about to take place in the South Blue, between the two rival forces._

_"We ask you one more time to stand down!" yelled the commanding Admiral from the Alliance._

_Nielio stepped out from the foremost ship and yelled back, "We of the Kingdom will never stand down! If you Alliance fools want to fight us, however, then we'd be more than happy to engage! Isn't that right, men?"_

_It was met by a rousing applause from the marines. The Alliance Admiral was quiet for a second before saying, "Alright then! Prepare for battle!"_

_Both fleets had more than a hundred ships at that battle, which would later be known as the Battle of the South. It was a strategic battle in that the winner would take control of most of the South Blue, and both sides wanted it for a foothold in the war to destroy their enemies._

_The battle raged on for hours, with the loss of dozens of ships and thousands of lives…_

— — —

_It wasn't more than ten years into the Great War before King Marin D. Romanov died._

_Most people theorized that it was due to the stress of going to war, and most of his closest friends and family said they would constantly see him pacing back and forth in his room at night, unsure of what to do. Combine this with his age, and it was a deadly combination that ended the life of one of the Kingdom's most adored king._

_Following tradition for more than 300 years, Marin's eldest son took his rightful place on the throne. His name was Martin, and while the father and son's names might have been similar, they could not have been more different._

_Martin was around 40 years old when he took the throne and he took the war effort very seriously. After a particularly bad year of the war where the Ancient Kingdom seemed to always end up on the losing end, Martin decided to make a drastic change in diplomacy methods._

_He invaded and took over the two closest islands. Never in the history of the Ancient Kingdom, had a king forcefully taken control of an island and its people. Martin claimed they needed more resources and soldiers for the war, and while they did suck the island dry of resources and manpower, it didn't help much with the war._

_Martin lived by a rule of viciousness, always getting what he wants, no matter what the cost. He always stated that the ends justify the means, and as such, felt no qualms when he took over a few more neighboring islands and doing the same thing to them, virtually destroying their economy and leaving the once semi-prosperous people into poverty._

_He currently sat in his throne, listening to a less-than-happy report, and didn't feel like hiding how upset he was._

_"What? I dare you to say that again!" stated the clearly angry King Martin D. Romanov._

_Admiral Nielio still grasped his wounded shoulder while on his knees and repeated, "There was a dangerous turn of events in the weather, milord. It soon gave the Alliance the advantage, and they simply let the waves and lightning batter our fleet. I had to order the retreat, or everything would have been lost."_

_"You came back with less than a dozen ships!" roared Martin. "And what's more is that you allowed the Alliance to take control of the South Blue!"_

_"With all due respect, milord," said a clearly seething Nielio, "would you rather I lost the entire fleet instead of retreat?"_

_"YES!" Martin replied. "Anything is better than letting the Alliance win such a decisive battle!"_

_"WE WOULD HAVE LOST ANYWAYS!" barked Nielio. "Better to come back with some men than none!"_

_King Martin slumped back in his throne and said, "It's clear that you don't know the consequence of losing a battle. You're now stripped of your rank and banished from this Kingdom."_

_"But milord, I—" Nielio pleaded._

_"Be grateful I'm not executing you on the spot!" cut off Martin. "Guards, take remove this filth from my presence."_

_While the struggling Nielio was removed, Martin D. Romanov sighed and put his hand to his face in disappointment. He turned to his advisor right next to him and commented, "We've clearly underestimated the Alliance's drive and military power. What would you suggest we do?"_

_His advisor—handpicked by Martin himself, therefore sharing the same brutal ideals of the king (which stood in sharp contrast of his father)—nodded and said, "It's true, we've underestimated their strength. However, there's still one thing we of this Kingdom have that's better than the Alliance."_

_"What is that?" inquired Martin._

_His advisor smiled and said, "We are still far more technologically advanced than them. And while we may be lacking in men or motivation, we can gain the upper hand by creating far more devastating weapons."_

_"We've been trying that," Martin pointed out, "but nothing seems to be working."_

_"If I may, milord, it's simply because we're applying it in the wrong areas," replied his advisor. "The future of combat is on the seas, so I believe instead of applying weaponry on land, we apply it to the more…useful setting of the sea."_

_"What did you have in mind?"_

_The advisor raised up his index finger and said with a grin, "Imagine, if you will, a ship so big, it could destroy an entire island."_

_Martin was clearly interested in the idea and said, "You think such a thing can be possible?"_

_His advisor nodded. "Of course it can, milord. With our level of technological advancement, anything is possible if we set our minds to it."_

_Martin smiled as he understood what his advisor was saying. "I take it you've already taken the liberty of getting blueprints from our scientists?"_

_"Of course, milord," the advisor said, pulling out a scroll and opening it, revealing the plans to a ship. "This is what we were thinking of calling the Poseidon. You see here, this contraption allows the ship to produce a massive shockwave and literally cause a tsunami to engulf an island."_

_Martin rubbed his chin and said, "Hmm, how long do they estimate it will take to build?"_

_"Mmm…most likely twenty-five to thirty years, they estimate," the advisor replied._

_That was enough for Martin as he pushed the blueprint back to his advisor and simply said, "Tell them to get it done. If this works out, we can turn the tide in the entire war. Oh, and have then keep it under wraps until complete. We don't want any information leaking out, of course."_

_"Of course, milord," the advisor replied. "But, there is the matter of resources that need to be attended to…"_

_"Hmm?" uttered Martin, looking back at his advisor. "Just get it from one of the islands we control, it doesn't really matter which."_

_"That's just the thing," replied the advisor. "I've checked, and unfortunately no such island that is under our control has what we need to make such dreams a reality."_

_Martin sighed and said, "Rally the troops then and tell then search every island until they find what we need. After all, with the creation of these weapons, we can end the war faster, so the ends justify the means."_

_His advisor nodded and said, "Of course they do, milord. It shall be done."_

— — —

_The Kingdom's military force entered the island of Paradon rather brazenly, with soldiers openly attacking civilians and looting whatever they wanted. They did, however, have a set path, and it was right at the island's capitol._

_General Iruno ordered his men to burst through the door of the Parliament meeting currently going on, and when it was done, he stepped in proudly, shooting a pistol shot in the air, garnering the attention of all of the men inside the building._

_"Gentlemen, gentlemen, please, let's not have any trouble," said the sarcastic Iruno. He stood in front of the chamber and thirty or so politicians and continued, "I guess I'll get straight to the point then. Your island currently has an Adam Tree on it—and as it turns out we need a large supply of Adam Wood, so I hope you don't mind us taking you over!"_

_The thirty aging men were clearly shocked by this news as one asked, "What exactly do you mean? We have done nothing wrong."_

_"Unfortunately it's not about that," replied the still-grinning Iruno. "It's as simple as the fact that you have what we want, so we're gonna take you over to give it to us."_

_One particularly old man with a long scraggly beard walked forward with a cane and said, "This is all under King Martin's orders, isn't it?"_

_"That's none of your business, old man," stated Iruno bluntly. _

_The man shook his head and said sadly, "To stoop so low as to take over islands…how far the Kingdom has fallen."_

_Iruno aimed his pistol at the man and sneered, "Unfortunately, we don't give a fuck about your opinions, so just be good and let us take you over nicely, and we can take your precious tree."_

_"I think I speak for everyone when I say that you _will not_ take this island without good reason!" the old man blurted._

_Iruno laughed and said, "That's funny. I was actually looking for an excuse for a good old fashioned attack. We've lost so many battles recently it kinda gets the blood boilin', ya know?"_

_"YOU ARE ALL FOOLS, AND MARTIN SHALL SOON SUFFER FOR HIS—ARGH!"_

_Iruno didn't want to hear anymore as he shot the man at pointblank range, sending him dropping to the floor. The men were immediately up, rushing at the soldiers and shouting several things at once._

_Iruno simply smiled and said, "We won't deal with insubordination. This whole capitol city will have to be torched…"_

Legends say that fire rained down on the city from the Kingdom's warships and giant waves crashed against its coast, and not before long, the city was demolished—all of the residents wiped out. However, despite the complete and utter destruction of Paradon's capitol city, the Adam Tree still stood, unblemished…

— — —

_"Father, how could you let such things go on?" asked King Martin's twenty-eight year old son Mark. "An entire city was demolished, and for what? Just for some wood? What could you possibly need wood for so desperately you need to destroy a city?"_

_Mark D. Romanov was known to be more like his grandfather Marin, and as such, was generally at completely opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to his own father. As such, Mark often questioned Martin's decisions._

_"We've left entire islands in poverty," Mark continued, "and there's growing unrest with several other neighboring islands that we're losing support from. With this new attack on Paradon, I don't see how we can rally any allies in our war against the Alliance."_

_Martin reacted angrily and said, "Shut up will you? You clearly don't understand the long-term goals of this Kingdom. We're doing this _for _the war effort! Doing it so we can finally get the upper-hand and beat the Alliance once and for all!"_

_Mark looked at his father with disappointment and said, "It's you who can't see the long-term ramifications for your actions. The Alliance is gaining more and more sympathy, even though they've also started taking over islands for their own war effort. Do you know why they're still popular and we're not?"_

_Martin smirked, clearly amused, and said, "Please, enlighten me, son."_

_"It's because we're not leaving the island in shambles after we're done with it!" shouted Mark. "You say the ends justify the means, yet all that's going to happen after we win the war will be that everyone will hate us for what we did to them _during_ the war!"_

_"I don't give a fuck what those pissant little islands care about!" shouted the equally angry Martin. "The threat right now is the Alliance, and if we don't do everything we can to stop them, then there won't be a Kingdom to hate!"_

_Mark shook his head and said darkly, "No, father, your greatest enemy is not the Alliance. It is the people of this Kingdom who miss the days of my grandfather. Mark my words, but your ruthless ways will be your downfall."_

_"Get out of here," said Martin in a hushed whisper._

_"Fine," replied Mark, beginning to leave. When he was at the door he looked back and simply said, "You've learned nothing from Grandfather…"_

— — —

_Mark was correct when he said that the people of the Ancient Kingdom were upset at the way he was handling things. They were losing the war and burning all their bridges in a desperate attempt to assuage the situation. Within three years of even more imperialistic tendencies that now extended to almost a quarter of the world in a cruel game of domination, the people decided they had had enough._

_Ironically, Mark himself rallied a militia among the people of the Ancient Kingdom, and staged a coup. It didn't take long for the angered civilians to get into Martin's chambers and overthrow him. Martin D. Romanov himself was banished forever from the Ancient Kingdom, and they were glad he was gone._

_Then, Mark D. Romanov himself took the throne, and became the new successor. He was the main candidate after the coup, and no one seemed to have a problem with it. When he first donned his crown, he addressed everyone in the Kingdom:_

_"Ladies and gentlemen—and esteemed citizens of this Kingdom—the Dark Hour of our history is past us, for Martin D. Romanov and his ways are no more! I promise you that I will rule quite differently from my father, and while this war may still rage on, I promise you that there's light at the end of the tunnel!"_

Martin D. Romanov's rule of the Ancient Kingdom was known as the "Dark Hour," and the citizens were eager to move past his failures and get back to the greatness they had once attained. However, it was too late, as Martin's actions of imperialism set the cogs in motion for the inevitable downfall of the entire Kingdom itself.

* * *

What next?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	84. Filling the Void 3: Rift in the Timeline

50 years into the madness. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions. As a note, the poem at the end is from T.S. Elliot's "The Wasteland," and I by no means take credit for it, even though it has significance in this story.

* * *

**84: Filling the Void 3- Rift in the Timeline**

_Rochar Island/West Blue  
872 years ago/650 AOS  
50 years into the Void Century_

_Foot soldiers of the Alliance were in full-on and blatant panic._

_Rochar Island had been under the control of the Twenty Kingdoms (although around this point they had taken over several islands, technically making it more than twenty kingdoms under their control) for a very long time and served as a crucial island in the West Blue for their ultimate dominance in the region. The soldiers who were based there had not seen much action in the last few years, as the Ancient Kingdom's attacks were getting scarcer and scarcer._

_However, all that changed one day when an incredibly massive warship got close to the island. Larger than most galleons, it appeared to use the power of shockwaves to generate earthquakes and massive tidal waves that crashed against the shore. Not gifted with the powers of the den-den mushi's yet, the soldiers are forced to retreat and leave the island en masse, hoping they could report back to the Gorosei about this travesty._

_Five galleons left the sinking island of Rochar, yet after encountering the massive ship yet again, only one badly damaged ship returned to the Gorosei to tell them of the horrors of the island-sinking ship…_

— — —

_Within the same year, yet another ship appeared in the North Blue, using a massive cannon to shoot out a bright shot of energy to demolish everything on the island, leaving only a barren waste on the island's crust._

_Years later, scientists would theorize that this ship gathered energy from the sun and used its power to create a truly powerful blast capable of wiping out an entire island's civilization._

_To the citizens of the Ancient Kingdom, this ship of massive destruction was simply known as Apollo._

— — —

_King Mark D. Romanov, now age fifty-seven, took the success of the current weapons with a grain of salt._

_In the beginning of Mark's kingship, hopes were high and expectations were even higher for the new and young king. However, within a few years, things soon began to worsen for the Ancient Kingdom. The war—despite promises from Mark that it would end soon—only intensified, and it was clear to everyone that they were slowly but surely losing to the Alliance._

_Mark's popularity was sliding among the people (though not enough for another coup), and while he earnestly did his best to resolve numerous depressions and resource problems, nothing seemed to work._

_It seemed like all was lost, when a group of scientists had told Mark that they had finished the three ancient weapons requested thirty years ago. The King had no idea what they were talking about, as his father Martin never told him that he was secretly building weapons capable of destroying islands._

_Mark inspected the three weapons named Pluton, Poseidon, and Apollo, and was assured by the scientists that they were fully operational and capable of complete destruction; Mark was then left with a major decision. _

_Over the course of his rule, he had removed all of his soldiers from the islands his father had previous occupied, however they still suffered massive depressions and poverty—along with most of the world at this point, due to the Great War affecting almost every island, regardless if they wanted it or not—and the Ancient Kingdom lacked the funds or resources to lend to a relief effort, essentially leaving the islands to die._

_He was proud, however, that he had not followed in his father's footsteps in terms of ruthlessness, and in fact, tried to rule with kindness. However, as it was soon made quite obvious that this type of ruling wasn't conducive to winning wars. Therefore, King Mark painfully signed off on the order to use the three ships in the war, hoping it would end the Great War faster with a victory on their side._

_When he learned of the complete destruction the weapons caused, however, he began to balk and say that it was not worth the destruction of entire islands. However, his top generals told him that they had frightened the Alliance, and the continued use and threats of these weapons made it possible to end the war with negotiations instead of violence._

_Mark sighed, as he agreed to continue using the weapons, however, he ordered that their attacks must be severely scaled down to once or twice a year, so as to keep the threat alive, but not cause needless wanton destruction._

_When his generals left, Mark looked out the window and asked himself what his grandfather Marin would do. Whenever he didn't know the answer, he thought back to the poem his grandfather and father told him, and the poem he likewise told his son when he was younger…the story of the Romanov bloodline and subsequent history of the Ancient Kingdom._

_"Son of man…You cannot say, or guess, for you know only—"_

— — —

_The Ancient Kingdom  
870 years ago/652 AOS  
52 years into the Void Century_

_"What the hell do you mean we lost track of all three weapons?" asked the incredulous King Mark._

_His advisor balked at this and replied, "It's just as I said, your highness. Pluton, Poseidon, and Apollo all seemed to disappear without a trace."_

_"How did this happen?" asked Mark, trying to keep his cool._

_"Well, we really don't know, milord," his advisor said. "We only know that we sent Pluton towards a small island base by Alabasta, Poseidon was on its way to a more remote part of the world, and Apollo was supposed to head towards the Alliance's main base in the East Blue."_

_Mark sighed and stood up from his throne and walked towards the window he often looked at when he was thinking. "So our three greatest assets disappear without a trace? I suppose I should be grateful, now knowing that we can no longer be responsible for the destruction of islands or an unnecessary amount of people."_

_His advisor hesitated, but said, "Milord, it's highly likely that if the Alliance gets wind of this information, they will once again go on the offensive, and things could look very grave for the Kingdom."_

_Mark sighed and said, "We really did underestimate them, didn't we? We thought we could easily beat the Alliance, but now they're on the verge of destroying us…" _

_He turned to his advisor with a fire burning in his eyes saying, "Send out a hundred scouts broken into three groups to go and find those weapons! I don't care how long it takes them; they're not allowed back until they find out where they are!"_

_His advisor bowed and said, "Of course, milord."_

_"Oh, and…" Mark continued, "have each group equipped with a chunk of the Poneglyph Stone."_

_"A Poneglyph Stone?" his advisor asked. "Milord, why would we give them some of our indestructible rock to go and look for the weapons?"_

_"Isn't it obvious?" Mark replied. "Once they find where the ancient weapons have wound up, I want them to record where they lay. Once they have done that, I want them to cover up where the ship is and hide the Poneglyph on a completely different island and keep it a secret."_

_"Whatever for…?"_

_"Can't you tell idiot?" Mark shot back. "I don't want the weapons reactivated ever again, they simply cause too much pain. However, those ships are a piece of our history, and I want it recorded on the Poneglyph Stone so future generations may find them if they wish to study our language."_

_His advisor was completely confused, but stammered, "Milord, if I may, we could still use those weapons if we can find them and—"_

_"I also want our top historians to collaborate together and record this entire war's history on Poneglyph Stones, and once that is done, we can—"_

_"Milord, this is not the most prudent decision!" his advisor cut in. "We should be focusing on attaining the weapons so we can dedicate them to the war effort and—"_

_"THIS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE FUCKING WAR!" Mark roared, causing his advisor to step back in fear. "If the Alliance does defeat us, I guarantee you they'll do all they can to cover up our existence in the world, but we _are_ a part of history, and we must never be forgotten. Our lives live to only a mortal span, but history lives on forever. Our Kingdom's history is more important than any war, no matter how great it may be. Now go and carry out my orders!"_

_His advisor bowed and said, "Of course milord…it shall be done."_

_The advisor left the room, leaving a fifty-nine year old Mark to stare out his window again, thinking his own thoughts._

_Two years later, Mark died._

— — —

_654-699 AOS  
868-823 years ago_

_Mark's son, Max D. Romanov, takes the throne at the age of thirty in the year 654 AOS, yet dies forty years later in 694 AOS, leaving his own son Morgan D. Romanov to take the throne at the age of twenty-nine._

_The Ancient Weapons are still not secured, yet the scouts continue to look, despite new ones having to be sent whenever something happens to one of the original scouts._

_The Ancient Kingdom continues to lose ground against the Alliance in the war. The Kingdom's economy continues to be drained, and almost every civilized island on the planet is in a depression due to the Great War._

_History continues to be recorded under Mark's order, as more and more Poneglyph Stones are used for the historian's venture._

_Nothing else of note happens…_

— — —

_The Ancient Kingdom  
822 years ago/700 AOS  
100 years into the Void Century_

_King Morgan D. Romanov, now a respectable thirty-five years of age, had a plan to end the Great War once and for all._

_Everyone thought he was crazy, but Morgan didn't care about their thoughts, he knew what he was going to do. If his plan worked out, the Ancient Kingdom would turn out on top and everything would be alright. After more than a century of fighting, it would finally be over._

_Morgan inspected what had just come to him, and looked at it with a grin. Everything he needed was there, and soon his plan would be put into action._

_Morgan, like his father Max and grandfather Mark, took to their ideals of ruling with kindness and honor, although as Morgan found out, that didn't work when it came to fighting wars. However, Morgan completely supported his grandfather's orders to record the Ancient Kingdom's history, and kept it going all these years._

_However, unlike his father and grandfather, Morgan was sure he knew a way to end the war, get rid of the Alliance, and return the Kingdom to its old place of glory. Grinning, he turned to his men after inspecting what just came in and said:_

_"Excellent, now all we have to—"_

— — —

The candles burned low in Dragon's chamber as Robin closed her eyes and simply said, "And that's where the history on the Poneglyph ends."

"You mean that's it?" asked an incredulous Nami. "Surely there's more! We haven't even learned how the Ancient Kingdom was destroyed yet!"

Dragon rubbed his chin and said, "It must all be recorded on the Rio Poneglyph at Raftel."

"Strange though," Usopp commented. "It didn't sound like there was anything the World Government would want to cover up, save for the creation and disappearance of the ancient weapons. Other than that, it sounds like a straightforward historical account on the Great War."

"These are important pieces of the puzzle," Robin replied, "that the World Government doesn't want anyone to know about. Not because the information on them is particularly dangerous, but because it must build up and build a precedence to what the Rio Poneglyph says on Raftel. If a historian were to know of the _entire_ history of the Void Century, it would a massive threat to them."

"I see," Usopp said, understanding now.

Dragon looked deep in thought when he finally said to Robin, "Are you sure that's all the Poneglyph recorded?"

"Well…" Robin said, "there was this rather peculiar message that looked scribbled onto the end of it. It's only one line, though. Strangely enough, it came up a few times, but I left it out of what I told you simply because it had no relevance, just like how I cut out a few decades that didn't matter."

Dragon nodded. "Well tell us what it says."

Robin looked at her paper and said, "It just says: 'Son of man…You cannot say, or guess, for you know only…' And it ends there."

"…A heap of broken images, where the sun beats…And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief," Dragon mysteriously said.

"Beg your pardon?" Robin asked, tilting her head.

"It's just that…" Dragon started, "…I know those words. They're the first few lines to a poem my father Garp used to tell me."

"What?" everyone in the room said collectively.

Robin simply looked shocked at this information and said, "Could this mean…every King passed this story down to their own children and…they each had—"

"What are you talking about?" demanded Sanji.

Robin simply looked at the group and said, "This could be…the Will of D!"

* * *

Will of D?

**I am unable to update on Saturday. And, unforutnately, the heavy workload from school (college applications in particular) is heavily hindering my writing time. Therefore, I've decided to return to updating twice a week on Wednesdays on Saturdays. Sorry, and see you on Wednesday.**

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	85. Master the Forgotten Form

Discovery of D? Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions. Once again, the poem is from T.S. Elliot's "The Wasteland" and I take no credit for it.

* * *

**85: Master the Forgotten Form**

"The Will of D?" questioned everyone almost immediately.

Robin nodded and looked at Dragon. "Did Garp ever happen to mention where that poem came from?"

Dragon pondered for a second, before saying, "He said his father used to tell him it while he was a child, and his grandfather before it."

"And all of your relatives have the initial D., correct?"

Dragon nodded.

"Then it's highly possible that, the Will of D was passed down from the rulers of the Ancient Kingdom," Robin explained. "And the very purpose of those who carry D is to destroy the World Government."

Dragon stood up and strode towards his window. "It does make sense. After all, Gol D. Roger seemed to know about the Will of D, and all he seemed to do was antagonize the World Government." He turned back to Robin. "So you're saying that the purpose of the Will of D was so that this poem could be passed down, and ultimately destroy the World Government?"

"I can't say for sure," Robin said, "but it is a strong coincidence that you seem to know of a poem that people knew more than 800 years ago."

"Well what is the entire poem then?" asked Usopp.

Robin nodded in agreement. "Recite the whole thing, if you will, and I'll write it down."

Dragon sighed and said, "Alright, here goes…"

Silence reigned for a second, before Dragon recited the poem he had heard ever since he was a youth:

"Son of man,  
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only  
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,  
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,  
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only  
There is no shadow under this red rock,  
_(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),_  
And I will show you something different from either  
Your shadow at morning striding behind you  
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;  
I will show you fear in a handful of dust."

After he was done, Robin wrote it down on her paper, and inspected it. "A most unusual poem, mysterious even," she said.

"So what's your opinion on it, Robin?" Chopper inquired. "What does it mean?"

"Hmmm, if I were to look at it on face value, I'd have to say…it's a map," Robin finally said, staring intently at the poem.

"Map to what?" Sanji asked, lighting a cigarette.

"While it's not completely obvious," continued Robin, "the fact that the beginning of the poem was put at the end of the last Poneglyph, and the fact that the poem is a history of the Romanov family line and subsequently the Ancient Kingdom itself, my guess would be that it's a map showing us how to find the Rio Poneglyph on Raftel."

"So you're saying that Raftel used to be the home of the Ancient Kingdom?" Dragon slowly asked.

Robin sighed and said, "Once again, I can't say for sure, but if you ask me, it all seems to point to one thing. The Will of D was passed down by the Kings of the Ancient Kingdom. That will was to destroy their most hated enemies, the World Government, and the fact that Dragon knows of a poem that's over 800 years old, I'd say it all ties in quite nicely. Add that to the fact that this poem sounds like a map when read carefully, my hypothesis was that this leads to the Rio Poneglyph that must be hidden on Raftel, that only those with the initial of D can locate."

"That sure is a lot to take in," Nami commented with a sigh.

"And it is highly likely that the Rio Poneglyph holds the key to destroying the World Government then," Dragon added with a smile. "Excellent work Robin!"

Robin only nodded, content that she too knows about the Void Century, although the most important information was yet to come.

Dragon looked around and said, "That will be all for now. You're all dismissed. I myself must go and check up on my son to see how his own training is going."

With that, Dragon left the room, leaving everyone else to stand around for several seconds in silence, still contemplating the mystery left by the Void Century.

— — —

The day before Robin gave her history lesson, Splint and Luffy continued their training. However, even after Splint's instructions and exercises, Luffy still hadn't gotten the hang of how to use Busoshoku Haki. Fed up with his lack of progress (and subsequently continuing to wail upon Luffy unnecessarily), Splint decided to enlist the help of someone else while Luffy was sleeping from exhaustion.

"Don't even talk to me you savage beast!" Boa Hancock said when Splint tried to talk to her about the subject matter. She looked so far down on Splint she was now looking up. "You have no right to communicate with someone such as myself."

Splint sighed as he lit himself another cigarette. "I've already told you, it's for Luffy's benefit."

"And I already told _you_ that Luffy told me not to come in contact with him while training," Hancock shot back. "And I must respect his wishes!"

"Fine then," sighed Splint, "but at least give me some information. It'll only help out with Luffy in the end anyway."

Hancock pondered this for a second, and finally said, "Fine, but make it quick. I don't like being around the likes of you."

"Fine, fine," he simply said. "It seems like Luffy's having trouble mastering the basics of Busoshoku Haki. I've told him all I could and how I was able to achieve it, but it still doesn't seem to be working for him. I'd like to know how you managed to uncover and master your own Haki."

"Well it was easy for me. I first discovered my Haki back when…something bad happened in my past," Hancock said, remembering her days as a slave, but not willing to tell Splint. "To put it in the simplest terms, I used my rage to draw out and hone my skills with it."

Splint took off his bucket hat and scratched the top of his head. "I see…So you first discovered it when you were _really_ angry then?"

Hancock nodded.

Splint puffed on his cigarette and continued, "Come to think of it, the Boss did say that all his observed instances of Haki were when he was really angry or upset." Then, an idea seemed to pop into his head. "Alright, I think I know what I'm gonna do. Thanks a bunch Hancock."

"Don't you dare call me by that name!" Hancock said, kicking Splint in the side of his head, sending him reeling in pain. "You may only refer to me as Hebihime-sama! Only one man can call me by my name!"

"G-Got it…my mistake…" Splint said before scrambling out of her sight, not wanting to invoke her wrath anymore.

Fortunately, Splint got what he needed from her, and if his plan works, then it would all be worth it.

— — —

At a certain point of continuing to attack Splint and continuously getting beaten by him, Luffy felt the strain of it and collapsed in the middle of the day. Unfortunately for him, his collapse brought on unpleasant dreams about Ace that he thought he had gotten over.

He remembered his happy childhood with Ace, but it would continually cut back to him with a hole in his chest and his blood spilling all over Luffy in his final seconds.

_"I'm sorry I couldn't let you save me properly…" he wheezed. "Forgive me…"_

Luffy immediately bolted upright, panting and sweating. He looked around and saw that he was still in the training field.

"Having nightmares, eh, kid?" he heard Splint say.

Luffy looked to his side and saw Splint standing there, surprisingly twirling Luffy's trademark straw hat around his index finger. "Hate to break it to ya, but if its about what I think it is, then it probably won't go away for a while. Not until you face it yourself."

"Shut up," Luffy simply said, slowly standing up. "And what the hell are you doing with my hat?"

Splint smiled as he continued to twirl Luffy's hat. "Well, me beating you continuously got kinda boring, to say the least, so I decided to try something a little different. Do you know of my power, Mr. Luffy?"

Luffy shook his head. "Can't say that I have."

Splint grinned widely and said, "To put it simply, it's called the Blank-Blank Fruit, and it allows me to…shall we say 'erase' whatever item I want." He took out a small sphere and threw it into the air. "Here, let me demonstrate."

With one swipe of the hand, the sphere disappeared. Luffy watched and couldn't help but think that it was a very cool ability.

Splint kept his smile and said, "Get it?"

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, it's a cool power, mister."

"Glad you think so," he replied. "What do you think would happen, however, if I decided to swipe my hand over your hat?"

Luffy's eyes widened at this, as he knew what Splint was implying. "Give me my hat back," he simply said, clenching his fists.

"Not with that attitude," chided Splint. "Tell ya what, I'll do whatever I want with this hat, and you just try and stop me."

With that, he threw Luffy's hat in the air, prompting Luffy to sprint straight towards Splint with rage in his eyes. "STOP IT!"

Splint wouldn't stop, however, as his hand was centimeters away from Luffy's hat. Luffy cocked his fist back and yelled, "GUM-GUM PISTOL!"

Splint didn't move from his spot, and as a result, got a massive punch to the side of his face, sending him sprawling to the ground with a massive grunt. Luffy quickly snatched his hat up and put it on his head again.

"Not bad, kid," Splint said as he looked up from his position on the ground weakly, blood flowing from his mouth. "Managed to slug me pretty good."

He weakly began to stand up, as Luffy took off his hat and looked at it. "I could have sworn you touched it right before I hit you, but I guess I was mistaken."

Splint uttered a weak laugh as he wiped the blood from his mouth and said, "No, you were right. My hand _did_ touch your hat, and for all intents and purposes, it should have erased it from the face of the planet."

Luffy looked at him quizzically and asked, "Then what happened?"

"Don'tcha get it?" uttered Splint. "You used Busoshoku Haki to negate my abilities. You think I would have just stood there and taken the punch otherwise?"

Luffy inspected his fist and commented, "It did feel a little strange when I hit you."

Splint smiled and said, "That's what you're supposed to feel. Now tell me, what exactly did you feel a second before you hit me?"

"A lot of anger, I guess," Luffy replied.

"That's the key right there," Splint said. "You clearly activate your Haki when you're mad or upset. I hope you remember that feeling, kid, 'cause it's what you need to be able to master your Busoshoku Haki."

Luffy nodded, still looking at his fist.

Splint grinned and lit himself a cigarette. "Alright then, let's try it again, same old exercise. You try and hit me, but this time, channel that same feeling you had. I'm counting on ya kid; give me your best shot!"

— — —

Over the course of the day, Luffy kept at his training, and although the first few times he failed to use Haki again (and earned a smarting blow from Splint), he eventually got the hang of the feeling, and was continuously getting better at it. They worked tirelessly through the day, and on the same night Robin was teaching Dragon of history, Splint lit a cigarette and smiled at Luffy.

"Congratulations, kid, I think I can finally say that you've gotten the hang of how to use your Busoshoku Haki."

Luffy smiled and said, "It still feels a little weird though, having to call upon those emotions just to use it."

"That's how it is for everyone in the beginning," Splint explained. "Take it from experience though, over time you won't even need to use your emotions, but just _will_ it to happen. Ya get it?"

"Kind of," Luffy said, scratching his head.

"It just takes practice," Splint said, walking up to Luffy. He extended his hand and said to the confused Luffy, "It's been a pleasure training with ya, kid. I've taught ya all I could. Wish I could say mastering Haoshoku Haki is easier than Kenbunshoku or Busoshoku Haki, but I'd be lying. In fact, it's much, _much_ harder."

"Thanks for everything, Mister," Luffy said, gripping Splint's hand and shaking firmly.

"Just call me Splint like everyone else," replied the revolutionary.

Luffy laughed and said, "Alright. Thanks for everything, Splint."

"No problem, kid," he simply replied.

"Is everything in order then, Commander Splint?"

Both Luffy and Splint turned around to see a grinning Dragon standing there. Splint gave Dragon a thumbs-up and stated, "It's all good, Boss. The kid here has got a handle on how to use normal Haki; I've done all I can for him."

Dragon nodded and said, "Good job Commander. You're dismissed."

"Sure thing, Boss," Splint said. He looked at Luffy one last time and said, "Good luck, kid; you're gonna need it."

With that, Splint left the training area, headed for Dragon's mansion, leaving only Monkey D. Luffy and his father Monkey D. Dragon, looking at each other.

Dragon smiled and asked, "So you know how to use Busoshoku Haki then?"

Luffy nodded. "Yep."

Dragon spread his arms wide and said while still grinning, "Then perhaps you'd like to show your old man what you've learned. Trust me, you'll need everything you have to master Haoshoku Haki!"

* * *

After Busoshoku comes Haoshoku...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	86. Master the Forgotten Form 2: Wind Down

Mastering the Haoshoku Haki! Enjoy!

**Sorry I updated late. Something came up yesterday.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**86: Master the Forgotten Form 2- Wind Down**

Luffy cracked his knuckles and said, "I'm not gonna hold back just cause you're my Dad!"

Dragon tilted his head slightly in amusement and coolly replied, "I wouldn't expect you to, however, unlike Splint's crude method of striking someone, I'm thinking of you using it in a more…passive way."

Luffy dropped his fighting stance and asked, "What do ya mean?"

Dragon rubbed his chin in thought for a second before finally saying, "Remember when Silvers Rayleigh used Haki to knock someone unconscious?"

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, I do."

Dragon grinned and said, "Try it like that. Knowing when to use it before you hit someone is all well and good, but sometimes it's more advantageous to use it at a distance. Use the same principle as before, but this time, focus only on me with your eyes, not fists."

Luffy nodded and summoned the same emotions he used when using Haki in a physical way. When his body was filled with those emotions, he looked straight at Dragon and gave him a death-stare. Surprisingly, it seemed as if a large burst of wind flew towards Dragon, although he looked like he remained unaffected.

Monkey D. Dragon clapped his hands slowly and said, "Good job, son; you did it. While it's not perfect yet, I can say in confidence that you can now use Busoshoku Haki at will. However, you have a very special type of Haki, a type that only one in a million are born with. You know it as Haoshoku Haki. If you manage to harness it, you'll find that any enemy will be in your grasp in terms of power."

"Including Victor?" asked a curious Luffy.

Dragon chuckled and said, "_Especially_ Victor. The entire source of his power relies on the plethora of devil fruit powers he can use. If you can use Haoshoku Haki at will, you'll have the power to negate all of his powers at once, and then you'll have the advantage."

Luffy's eyes sparkled as he said dreamily, "That is so cool…" Then he seemed to get serious again and said, "Alright, let's get to it then! What do I need to do first?"

"Well there are a few things needed in order to control Haoshoku Haki," Dragon explained. "First thing's first though, we have to get you really mad."

"Hey, hey," said an incredulous Luffy. "Splint already taught me all about this, and I've mastered how to use Haki already."

"Ah, but that was for Busoshoku Haki," replied the smirking Dragon. "For Haoshoku Haki, however, we need to…shall we say prepare. And to do that, we need to get you _really_ angry. Nothing compared to almost losing your paltry hat."

"What?" Luffy asked with a hint of anger in his voice. "I already told you, me and Splint did this and—"

"You know I heard about what happened to Portgaz D. Ace," said the smiling Dragon, cutting him off.

Luffy's eyes immediately bulged as he gritted his teeth. "The hell did you just say?"

"Oh yes, I've heard all about it," continued the still-smiling Dragon. "How you went to such lengths at Impel Down to try and rescue him, but ultimately landed at Marineford, fighting until you couldn't move anymore."

Luffy's fists began to clench as he said quietly, "Shut up…"

But Dragon wouldn't keep quiet. "How you were _so_ close to rescuing him, only to have him get punched straight through the chest by a stronger opponent. You know why he sacrificed himself, right? He did it to _save you_, because you were so weak you couldn't find the strength to move."

"Shut the hell up," said Luffy, a little louder this time.

"Face it, you were too weak to save your brother, and if you just left things up to Whitebeard, Ace would probably still be alive today," continued the revolutionary. "If you didn't decide to play the hero, your 'brother' would still be alive and happy."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" roared Luffy, his fists clenched, but still not moving.

Dragon didn't seem fazed by this, and in fact, seemed amused. "You know, I could have shown up to try and help, but I didn't. Do you know why? It was because defeating the World Government is far more important than saving a single pirate. Besides, I always wanted to see if my own little pissant son truly lived up to the expectations I set for him when I save him at Roguetown."

_"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!" _yelled Luffy, sprinting towards his own father with his fists ready to strike. _"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"_

Dragon, however, was ready, as he deftly dodged Luffy's first throw and used his left hand to throw some strange powder in his face, catching Luffy by surprise. While he was surprised, Dragon used his right hand to grab Luffy by the face and slam him headfirst into the ground, stopping him dead in his tracks. Dragon dusted off his hands and began to walk away from the now-drowsy Luffy.

"Like I said, my son," stated Dragon as he continued to separate the distance between himself and Luffy, "getting extremely angry is only the prerequisite to learning how to control Haoshoku Haki."

He got far enough away and stopped, turning towards the still-grounded Luffy.

"I talked to your little girlfriend Hancock," Dragon continued, knowing full-well his speech fell on deaf ears, "and she told me that the best way to attain Haki is to face your biggest fears and regrets internally. Only after you've made peace with it, will you gain the clear-headedness and knowledge to wield the Haoshoku Haki."

He looked at his hand which still had some of the powder particles on it. He smiled and looked back at his son again, now completely detached from the world.

"Of course, coming to terms with something in your past is something that is attained through years of thought and meditation, and we don't have that long. So I had some of my chemists create a…special type of drug that is made to speed up the process, and make you face your regrets all at once. Of course, it's going to be a lot more volatile for you in there, but I believe in you my son."

Dragon sat down and stared at Luffy, keeping his lingering grin.

"If anyone can do this and master the Haoshoku Haki, it's you. Good luck Luffy, you're gonna need it if you want to succeed."

Meanwhile, Luffy's mind began to drift away to a dreamlike state as the drug began to take effect.

— — —

Luffy's mind awoke to find himself lying down on the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_. He was at first happy to be in a familiar place, but one quick look around and he saw that he was completely alone, and the deck was desolate.

Luffy sat up and wondered if he was dreaming yet again. These types of things weren't that uncommon, especially since…the incident at Marineford. He just wondered when it as going to end and he could get back to training.

_("seems like you're the same old Luffy, eh?")_

Monkey D. Luffy turned around to see none other than Fire Fist Ace sitting on top of the upper deck, a grin on his face and his old hat back on his head.

"Ace!" replied the ecstatic Luffy, stretching his arm towards Ace so he can try and embrace him.

While Luffy was in mid-flight towards his brother, Ace leapt from where he was and punched Luffy straight in the side of his face, sending him back down to the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_ with a look of confusion on his face. He wiped blood from his mouth and looked back at Ace, now on the same level with him.

_("you never seem to change; you think I'd be willing to forgive you that easily?")_

"The hell do you mean by that?" Luffy inquired.

That only earned him another slugging to his face by Ace, who stood there with anger now showing on his face. While Luffy was struggling to get up, Ace used his devil fruit powers to send a flaming fist his way, which Luffy barely dodged.

_("you said that you'd forgiven yourself over what happened, but you still continue to feel guilty on the inside. sure you don't show it, and maybe no one can sense it, but I can feel it Luffy, and it's holding you back")_

"How can I forgive myself?" asked Luffy, tears beginning to well in his eyes. "You sacrificed yourself to save _me_!"

Suddenly, Ace was right in front of Luffy, and without another word, he dealt him a fierce head-butt, sending him back on the ground.

_("I don't remember you being this weak back when we were kids! do you remember what I told you back then?")_

Luffy shook his head as he covered his face to hide his shame, earning him another punch to the top of his head. Ace stepped away from Luffy with a disgusted look on his face. When he was far enough away, he struck up a fighting stance.

_("well if you're not gonna remember it, then I don't know why I'm even talking to you. let's settle this once and for all Luffy, just you and me, like the old times")_

Luffy was back on his feet and shouted, "I'm not gonna fight you! You're my brother!"

Ace didn't seem to pay attention as he shot another fire fist towards Luffy, which he dodged yet again.

_("you've gotten it wrong Luffy…it's _you _who's not my brother. my brother wouldn't whine and complain constantly about what has happened. the brother I knew would accept what happened and move on, not letting it bother him anymore, but it seems like you can't even do that. Fire Fist!")_

Luffy dodged another strike and yelled back, "Stop it Ace! We don't have to fight!"

_("too bad, because I'm not gonna stop, and I'm afraid that if I beat you, I'll kill you. Fire Gun!")_

Luffy dodged and decided the only way to stop Ace was to subdue him, so he rushed towards him and brought both his arms back, yelling, "Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

Both of Luffy's fists went straight through Ace, as he was able to transform into fire and not take any harm. Ace simply smiled and smashed Luffy in the face, sending him back to the ground.

_("you won't be able to beat me with just regular attacks like that, you'll have to try something better")_

"Like what?" demanded Luffy.

_("you know what it is. only by using Haoshoku Haki can you beat me")_

"I don't know how to use that!" shouted Luffy.

_("I'm telling you how to use it right now! let go of your regret and stop holding yourself back! what happened to me wasn't your fault!")_

Tears were springing from Luffy's eyes as he said, "I can't help it! I should have been stronger!"

Ace launched another fire fist towards Luffy, hitting him straight in the chest and burning him, causing him to cry out in pain.

_("and I'm trying to help you gain that power now! if you don't master this skill, only more innocents will suffer! accept the past, move on")_

"I can't!" persisted Luffy. This seemed to anger Ace even more.

_("damn it Luffy, if you don't learn to let go and harness your potential, then how are you gonna become King of the Pirates? how are you gonna save more innocent people when you need to? stop being such a coward!")_

This caused Luffy to break into a fury, rushing towards Ace and throwing a large flurry of fists towards him. "Gum-Gum Gatling!"

They all seemed to pass effortlessly through Ace, yet despite this, he smiled and raised his trademark hat.

_("that's it, you're getting there. now just repeat after me Luffy: 'It wasn't my fault that Ace died' ")_

Luffy continued his flurry of attacks and muttered, "I-It wasn't my fault that…it wasn't my fault that…"

_("damn it Luffy, just say it!")_

_"IT WASN'T MY FAULT THAT YOU DIED!"_ Luffy roared, releasing a large amount of Haki and throwing one more punch towards Ace.

Surprisingly, it hit and Ace was sent barreling to the ground. He finally landed with his back hitting straight up against the _Thousand Sunny_. His hat had flown off, but he looked at Luffy with blood flowing from his mouth and smiled.

_("good job Luffy, you said it. now you gotta promise me that you'll mean it this time, and not hold yourself back on the inside")_

Luffy was fully bursting into tears at this point as he yelled, "Ace, I'm sorry I couldn't save you! I really tried my best!"

_("I know you did, kid. don't worry about it Luffy. just move on with your life, and don't let me hold you back")_

"I promise I won't!"

Ace smiled, as his body began to fade away into flames.

_("I wasn't lying when I said I'd never die. I'll always be here with you, helping you out whenever you need it. and if you happen to doubt yourself again, you can be damned certain I'll be back to kick some sense into you. I gotta go now, but I'll cya around. good luck with your adventures, and you better become the Pirate King")_

Luffy nodded through the tears and said, "I will! Goodbye Ace! I promise never to blame myself on what happened to you again, but I will still always miss you!"

_("I never said you didn't have to, just don't beat yourself up over it…oh, and one more thing Luffy")_

"What?"

Ace smiled.

_("don't lose")_

Luffy nodded, as Ace disappeared completely, leaving Luffy alone again on the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_…

— — —

Luffy's eyes shot open as he immediately bolted up.

Dragon looked at him with confusion for a second, before smiling and said, "Got what you needed in there? I was afraid you'd never wake up."

Luffy stood up and looked at his open palm, experimentally opening and closing it. He looked at Dragon and simply said, "I think I understand how to use my powers now."

"Really?" asked Dragon as he stood up. "Then by all means, show me the power of Haoshoku Haki."

Luffy nodded, as he looked at Dragon, and by some internal mechanism that he seemed to have control over, he shot out a powerful burst of Haoshoku Haki. Dragon reacted immediately, showing visible strain and breathing heavier. He put his hands on his knees and looked like he couldn't do anything until Luffy decided to stop.

Dragon nearly collapsed, but didn't, as he looked up at Luffy and said, "Yep, you definitely got it. Looks like you were able to clear all doubt and fear in your mind."

Luffy simply nodded, but didn't say anything. He thought once more of Portgaz D. Ace—his brother—before smiling and thinking internally that he never again would blame himself for what happened on that fateful day at the Marineford.

* * *

Finally put to rest?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	87. To the Ship that Charmed the Devil

After the training... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**87: To the Ship that Charmed the Devil**

Splint clanked his ladle against a pan in the middle of the revolutionary's room to get their attention. Everyone in the room looked at him quizzically as he took a puff on his cigarette and said, "Breakfast's ready you bums. Get in here and eat."

The entire Straw Hat Crew was the first to arrive on the scene, as Sanji was the one serving the food (and also helped Splint cook it). The dinner commenced in the dining room of the revolutionary's mansion in a large rectangular table. Naturally, the entire Straw Hat Crew ate together.

It was the morning after Luffy had successfully utilized (not quite able to use the word "master" yet) Haoshoku Haki, and fortunately, it was also the day when the crew would be leaving Baltigo Island for good and continue their search for Victor.

Nami looked at Zoro who was sitting a few seats down from her as he was wolfishly eating his food. "Where have you been for the last day or two?"

Zoro didn't stop eating or even bother to look up as he simply replied: "Training. Some of these revolutionaries are pretty good fighters."

Sanji overheard this and couldn't help but scoff. "You're still gonna need a lot of help if you ever hope to fight against Victor. _I_ on the other hand will be able to protect you Nami. Just call me your knight in shining armor!"

"Well your food tastes like shit, knight," Zoro stated, still not bothering to look up.

"What was that, Marimo?" asked an incredulous Sanji. "If you don't like it, then don't eat it!"

"Well training does get one hungry," Zoro shot back. "Maybe if you did it some more, you'd know."

Sanji fumed at this, but didn't grace Zoro with a response, ending it there. Luffy, on the other hand, seemed to be in an incredibly happy mood, easily chatting with everyone around him (which included, of course, Usopp and Chopper).

"So Mr. Splint was about to erase my prized straw hat," Luffy explained to his two crewmates, "but thankfully, I was able to summon all my courage and give him a good punch before he could do any damage!"

"Wow!" Usopp exclaimed, clearly amazed. He looked at Splint and asked, "So you really have the power to erase anything?"

Splint smirked and said, "That's right. I'd demonstrate it here, but then that'd get the Boss angry. And when the Boss gets angry, a certain _okama_ tries to punish me."

"You mean Ivankov?" Boa Hancock inquired. She looked around and then asked, "Where is he anyways?"

Splint raised his eyebrow quizzically as he lit a new cigarette, and then looked around the entire table. Sure enough, Ivankov and Inazuma weren't there. Looking over at Dragon, the revolutionary asked, "Where'd Ivankov and Inazuma go, Boss? Usually they're not ones to miss out on large gatherings like this."

Dragon, however, remained silent.

"And then I was finally able to conquer my inner fears and master Haoshoku Haki!" Luffy said, standing up and throwing his fist out to punch the air.

Chopper's eyes sparkled. "Wow! Is it really that powerful?"

Luffy nodded. "You betcha! With this power, I can finally beat Victor!"

"I wouldn't push it too much," Luffy heard Dragon say. He turned towards his father as he continued, "Haoshoku takes quite a toll on inexperienced users. Normally it takes _years_ to master such a power. If you use it too much, you'll simply exhaust yourself."

"Right…" was all Luffy could say before sitting down and finishing his meal.

The rest of breakfast went by silently.

— — —

After showing up at Baltigo and being informed of the river that ran right in front of the Revolutionary's base, the Straw Hat Crew quickly relocated the _Thousand Sunny_ to be docked right in front of the spire containing the mansion, making it easier for the crew to go back and forth, and finally, to leave the island for good.

After breakfast and stocking up on supplies given to them by the revolutionaries, the Straw Hat Crew was finally boarding their ship in preparation to leave.

"Just ride the river out the rest of the way and you'll be off of this island in no time," Splint said to Nami, who nodded and looked at her log pose.

Suddenly, Dragon appeared and called to his son. Luffy looked at Dragon quizzically as his father simply held up a pair of handcuffs. "They're made of seastone," he explained. "The goal is to get these on Victor, and it will do what Haoshoku Haki can only do for a short period of time; cancel out all of his powers."

Luffy nodded and took the handcuffs, along with the key.

"Remember, only use Haoshoku Haki as a last resort," Dragon added. "If you overuse it, you'll just be tiring yourself out unnecessarily. Remember, Victor's no fool, and he'd use any advantage he can over you."

Luffy smiled and said, "Don't worry about it, dad, I've got it covered."

Dragon couldn't help but smile and say, "I saved you that day at Roguetown because I knew you could do anything, just like I know you can do this. Good luck, son!"

Robin appeared at the side of the _Thousand Sunny_ and called down yelling, "Dragon! Are you really just giving up on the history? The Rio Poneglyph holds the key to it all and you're not even gonna pursue it?"

Dragon kept with his trademark grin as he looked at Robin and explained, "Don't worry about me Miss Robin. Everything will work out fine. Just pursue Victor as usual and don't worry about it for now."

Robin bit her lower lip, closed her eyes, and simply nodded, knowing there was nothing she could do when arguing with Dragon. Hancock, however, seemed to come to a realization and asked, "Do you know exactly where Victor is now, and where he's going?"

Dragon pointed to Nami and asked, "Do you still have that piece of the Vivre Card Lola gave you?"

"Vivre Card?" questioned Nami, as if trying to remember. Then, her eyes lit up as she said, "Oh, the Vivre Card Lola gave me at Thriller Bark saying it would show to where her mother is. Yeah, it's in my room, but why does it matter?"

"It matters because if you follow that Vivre Card, it will lead you straight to Big Mom, one of the Yonko," Dragon simply stated.

"What?" exclaimed Nami, covering her mouth in shock. "You mean Lola's mom is a Yonko?"

Dragon nodded. "She will be the greatest ally to you in the New World with your fight against Victor. Seek her out using that Vivre Card, and she will help you from there. The only advice I can offer is for you to just follow the path to Raftel, and you'll run into her eventually."

"But—" Nami started in protest.

"Enough," Zoro cut off in annoyance. "Just follow what he has to say. Our ultimate goal is One Piece anyways. Right, Captain?"

"Right!" yelled Luffy as he leapt onto the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_. While on the deck, he looked down at all of the revolutionaries and gave his final farewell. "Thanks for everything! I promise I'll use all you have taught me to beat Victor and eventually get to One Piece!"

Dragon, however, already had his back turned, yet raised his hand in a simple gesture, before the _Thousand Sunny_ took off and departed from Baltigo.

When they left, Splint walked up to Dragon and said, "You sure don't like to show any emotions to your son, do ya?"

"It's none of your business," Dragon simply shrugged off.

Splint lowered his head and simply sighed.

"However," Dragon continued, causing Splint to listen with interest, "he's my son, so I know he can do whatever he sets his mind to. If he wants to beat Victor and find One Piece, then he will, and it's my job as a father to make sure he is able to do it!"

Splint lit a cigarette and replied, "Nice speech Boss, almost makes up for the fact that you abandoned him when he was a kid."

"Shut up," stated Dragon, walking back into the mansion. "Now come on, we've still got a lotta work to do."

Splint grinned. "Sure thing, Boss."

— — —

_"Victor, you're never gonna believe the information I just came by!" Bennett Morris the Harvester exclaimed as he burst into the room._

_He found Victor D. Capere simply sitting in a chair and staring listlessly at the ceiling. Bennett sighed and adjusted his flat cap as he approached his partner. "Hey, you listenin'? I said I got somethin' really big coming!"_

_Victor, however, seemed to brush him off and say, "This type of life bores me."_

_"What?" Bennett enquired._

_Victor stood up and looked at the Harvester. "There's no excitement in bounty hunting anymore."_

_"The hell are you talking about?" asked Bennett, still confused. "We've made a name for ourselves throughout the entire West Blue as the most fierce bounty hunting team around—in fact, they call us the Harbingers nowadays. How can you possibly be bored with it?"_

_"Harbingers, eh? Well, the thrill of the hunt is gone," Victor explained. "I left my home island in the Grand Line to search for some excitement, but now whenever a bounty-head hears we're chasing after him, he basically just gives himself up. That's boring."_

_Bennett took off his cap and ran a hand through his tangled hair. "It's been two years since I teamed up with you, and even now I can't understand you. However, I think I might have something that would interest you again."_

_"What's that?" inquired Victor, looking back at his partner._

_Bennett smiled as he held up a sheet of paper right in front of Victor that said:_

"Wanted Dead or Alive  
Gold Roger the Scourge of Civilization  
500,000,000 Berries

_"Gold Roger, eh?" asked Victor with a raised eyebrow._

_Bennett nodded. "He's on his way through the West Blue to reenter the Grand Line again. This time, I think he's really gonna reach the end even though it's never been done before. However, it's our job to make sure he doesn't reach that far."_

_"I hear he's got a pretty dangerous crew," Victor replied, still looking at the bounty poster. _

_"We've taken down bigger crews by ourselves before, and besides, the 500 million is just too tempting to give up…" Bennett extended his hand and continued, "So whaddya say partner, should we go and meet 'em before they make it to the Grand Line? Would that be enough excitement for you?"_

_A fire lit itself in Victor's eyes as he nodded, gripped Bennett's hand, and said, "I think this'll get the old spark back alright!"_

_"Excellent! Let's get the preparations made!"_

— — —

"Bennett, is the ship ready yet?" the Harvester heard someone behind him yell.

Bennett turned around to see Victor standing there with a lazy smirk on his face. Bennett marched his grin and replied, "You bet. I just finished her this morning! Isn't she a beauty?"

Victor looked at the ship Bennett had constructed and marveled at it. It was a rather large ship, and while it certainly couldn't match the size of Poseidon, it was large and sturdy enough. It had three rows of cannons on each side with three large masts holding the sails needed to keep it together. The best part, however, was that it was made of all the wood on the Adam Tree, and just by looking at it Victor could tell it would hold.

"Truly a remarkable ship," Victor commented. "You've done it yet again Bennett!"

The shipwright tipped his flat cap and asked, "So whatcha gonna name her?"

Victor shook his head and replied, "Names don't matter. Now come on, we need to transfer all our supplies to this ship and set sail as soon as possible; we've lost a few days already to you making the ship."

"You can't rush art," was all Bennett shot back with.

But Victor was already gone, leaving Bennett alone with his ship and own thoughts.

— — —

Bennett Morris the Harvester had spent the better part of the last three days constructing the ship, and the very night he had finished it, they had left Foodvalten to continue their journey. However, while the rest of the Corps of Kings was either sleeping or on the deck, Bennett was in his own personal room gripping a few papers.

While working on the ship, surprisingly the newspaper had dropped by the few times. While on breaks, Bennett would take his time to read the newspaper and see what was going on (always checking for new bounty-heads), and was absolutely amazed at what he saw. Even as he looked at it now, his hand was still shaking.

"Wanted Dead or Alive  
Victor D. Capere  
400,000,000 Berries

"You _really_ musta pissed the World Government off good, Victor old buddy," Bennett said to himself. "And this is a pretty good amount—only 100 million less than what Gold Roger once went for. Perhaps a bit too much for an old bounty hunter like me to pass up…but we'll see soon enough Victor old buddy, oh we'll see soon enough…"

Bennett also shifted through the pages to see tempting bounties for the remaining members of the Corps of Kings, and Bennett simply looked at them with excitement, shifting through and calculating how much money they were all worth in his head.

"Oh yes, quite a lot for someone like me to pass up," Bennett continued to mutter to himself quietly. "But you'd agree wouldn't you? Oh, sorry, I mean your _old_ self would agree."

In the dark of his room, Bennett Morris the Harvester began to make plans silently, as the new ship he created silently padded through the night.

"Sorry, but it's nothing personal, Victor old buddy. It's simply business…"

* * *

Ill will among the new ship...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	88. A Shattered Companionship 3: Bounty Bust

On the new ship, tensions rise. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**88: A Shattered Companionship 3- Bounty Bust**

_"Well, well, look what we have here boys," Gold Roger said to his crew with a smirk as they were just finishing loading up supplies on the last island in the West Blue. "These two guys have got a lotta guts alright."_

_Bennett shifted the weight of his battleaxe and coolly replied, "I'll only ask ya once more Mr. Roger. Surrender now and allow us to take you in, or get ready to suffer the consequences."_

_Victor D. Capere only remained silent._

_Roger let out a massive roar of laughter with his crew joining in. He looked at the two bounty hunters and said, "I think I'll honor your courage by giving you an offer."_

_"Offer?" inquired Bennett._

_Roger nodded and stepped forward. "It'll be you two boys against me in combat. If you beat me, I'll allow you to turn me in without a hassle. However, if I win, you two have to leave nice and peacefully."_

_Bennett responded as anyone naturally would to the request. He looked at Roger's crew and said, "How the hell do we know your crew won't join in?"_

_Roger let out another laugh and said, "Just because we're pirates doesn't mean we're untrustworthy. If I give my crew the captain's order, they won't interfere, I assure you. Ain't that right boys?"_

_His crew laughed and nodded, agreeing with what Roger said. Satisfied, Roger turned back to Bennett and Victor and asked, "Well, you ready then?"_

_Bennett looked at Victor skeptically, but he simply looked back at his partner with his piercing blue eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "Should be fun; why not?"_

_Surprisingly, Bennett Morris grinned and adjusted his flat cap, looking back at the soon-to-be King of the Pirates. "Alright Mr. Roger, we humbly accept."_

_Roger laughed yet again and drew his sword. "Excellent! Whenever you're ready, kids!"_

_Bennett looked back to Victor, who simply nodded, and with that, both men charged straight into Gold Roger, challenging him in combat._

— — —

Bennett Morris had worked with Victor for two years as bounty hunting partners (having earned the nickname of Harbingers), and much to his benefit, he had used those two years to profile Victor and learn all of his mannerisms.

The first example of this is that Victor almost always sleeps outside. Bennett couldn't remember a single time where Victor didn't take his bedding to the outdoors. Even on cold nights (which Bennett also knows Victor hates), Victor would simply pack extra blankets and still sleep outside, showcasing how dedicated he was to that particular craft.

When asked about his actions, Victor would shrug off the reply and just say, _"I've always felt more comfortable under the night sky…That's all."_

In fact, the only time Bennett remembered Victor commenting about it at all was when he said he would only sleep inside if he was forced to, and didn't want to arouse any kind of unnecessary suspicion. Other than that, though, Victor enjoyed the great outdoors for his sleep.

Bennett didn't pretend to diagnose his actions (and back then he didn't really care, letting him know Victor didn't feel forced to sleep indoors while they were partners), but this particular piece of information lent itself quite well to what Bennett had planned.

In the dark of the night on the unnamed ship Bennett had created, the Harvester quietly slinked out of his room with his trademark battleaxe attached to his back and was sure he didn't make any noises. After quietly sneaking up the stairs, he appeared on the deck of the ship.

A smile crept onto Bennett's face as he saw exactly what he expected. There, staring up at the night sky, Victor D. Capere was sound asleep, not making a move. _"Sorry Victor,"_ Bennett thought to himself, _"but it's just business, you know."_

Bennett got to his knees and placed both hands on the ground. Using the power of the Plant-Plant Fruit, he sent a flurry of foliage and plant-life speeding across the wood of the ship, yelling, "Ensnare!"

In the blink of an eye, Victor got surrounded by the plants, waking him up almost instantly. "Hey, what the fu—" he started in a sleepy and surprised voice.

Once Bennett had a firm grip on Victor, he was connected the trail of plants to his own arm and was able to lift Victor up to his feet. Immediately, Victor knew who was responsible as he looked towards Bennett with a snarl on his face.

"Bennett, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" he barked dangerously.

The Harvester merely smirked as he tightened his plant-like grip around Victor's body. "Sorry Victor old buddy, but this is a matter of business."

Victor struggled slightly before asking, "The hell do you mean?"

Bennett used his free arm to lift up Victor's wanted poster. "You're worth 400 million, partner. I don't know exactly whatcha did, but you fucked up big time, old buddy. I'm sure they'll be quite happy to see me strolling in with you, and I'll be 400 million berries richer. Oh, and not to mention I get this nice ship made of Adam Wood."

Victor let out a low and angry growl, as he simply said, "So that's it then, huh? Doing it for money? Why you two-faced backstabbing son of a—"

"Don't act all righteous with me Victor!" Bennett roared back. "_You_ were the one who abandoned me to go and join Gold Roger's crew all those years ago! It is _you_ who's two-faced and backstabbing."

Suddenly, the door behind Bennett opened to reveal Tobias, Vendrix, Benjamin, Kaede, and Kenji, who looked with surprise at the current situation the former partners were in. Bennett acted quickly and moved away from the group and brought Victor closer towards him while also taking out his battleaxe from his back, holding it dangerously close to his captive.

"Kikiki, well how the hell did this conundrum happen?" asked a chuckling Vendrix. "If you ask me, it looks like Bennett's getting a _little too_ close for comfort there."

"You're tellin' me," was all Victor replied with.

Bennett surprisingly smiled at this and surveyed the group. "Well look what we have here; even more money in the bank."

Tobias raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Tobias the Dreamer: worth 300 million berries, Vendrix Confreski the Disillusioned: worth 230 million, Benjamin McAllister: Worth 190 million, and Kenji the Mastodon and Kaede the Cerberus: together worth 325 million."

"325 million together, eh?" asked Kenji, beginning to count on his fingers. "Wonder how much that makes us individually…"

"It doesn't matter," Bennett quickly replied. "All that matters is that I'm on a ship full of sweet bounty-heads, and altogether, you're worth about a billion and a half berries. That's more than I'll ever need in my entire life."

Victor sighed and tried to reason. "If you simply stuck with us, you would have had a portion of One Piece all to yourself. That's worth much more than a billion and a half berries."

"I suggest you stop lying through your teeth," Bennett replied. "I was with you long enough to know when you're bluffing. Besides, goin' after Raftel is a fuckin' death trap, what with Big Mom constantly protecting the border of the last few islands in the Grand Line to make sure no one passes."

Tobias stepped forward as if to move, but Victor glared at him and stopped him in his tracks. Surprisingly, Victor smiled at the Corps of Kings and said, "Don't worry about it guys, I can handle this."

Bennett laughed and said, "You of all people should know how tough it is to escape my plantlike grip. Now, as for the rest of you, I suggest you call to get whoever the fuck else is in the ship and then get down on your knees slowly. Unless of course you wanna see poor old Victor's head roll by my axe."

Not a second after Bennett said that, Victor was able to rip through all of the plant-life surrounding his body and backed away from the incredulous Bennett with a smirk on his face.

"What the—how did you—there's no way anyone can break that with simple human strength…" was all Bennett could mutter.

"Well it's quite easy when you've eaten the Dice-Dice Fruit and became a human sword," Victor scoffed, showing his now bladed forearm.

Bennett shook his head in disbelief and rushed towards Victor with his battleaxe. With a roar, he brought it down, but Victor had transformed both of his arms into blades and was able to parry the blow. With a grunt, Victor threw Bennett's weapon off of him and was able to slash his chest with his razor-sharp fingers.

Bennett clutched his wound and hopped away from Victor. He summoned a few large seeds in his hand and threw them straight towards Victor. "You son of a bitch!" he yelled while doing it. "Eat this!"

Victor didn't move as the blades disappeared from his body and he pointed his index and pinky finger towards the hurtling items. "Slow-Slow Beam!"

A large beam hit all the items, and their momentum instantly stopped. Bennett simply looked in amazement as Victor didn't waste any time, shooting a light beam straight through Bennett's shoulder.

The surprised Harvester recoiled in pain, but recovered his footing quickly and dropped to the ground and placed one hand on the wood. "Greenery Growth!" he yelled as a plethora of plant-life sprung from the floor and grasped Victor's feet.

Bennett smirked at this as he knew he was immobilized and lifted his axe. Victor, however, calmly held his hand out and was able to use the power of magnetism to send Bennett's battleaxe flying towards him. After taking hold of it, Victor dropped it to the ground and used the powers of the Dark-Dark Fruit to have darkness seep throughout the ground, covering all the greenery.

"Black Hole!" he shouted, sucking it all up into the darkness.

The shocked Bennett simply stood there, as Victor disappeared from his spot instantly and reappeared right next to him. Aiming his hand towards Bennett's body, Victor shot out a bolt of electricity and said, "1 Million Volt Vari."

The electricity coursed through Bennett's body, causing him to scream in pain and letting him drop to his knees. Victor got a little closer and used the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit to touch Bennett's shoulder, cancelling out the powers of his Plant-Plant Fruit.

"The hell…did you do to yourself on that crew…Victor…" was all the weakened Bennett could mutter.

"Unfortunately for you Bennett, while I was on Gold Roger's crew, I ate a very powerful devil fruit," Victor explained. "You had no possible way of knowing, and I even made a conscious effort to hide my power from you, in case such eventualities would happen. Remember Bennett, you don't only know about me, but I also know how you think as well."

Bennett could only look on the ground and let out a defeated gasp, feeling no power course through his body—only pain.

Victor shook his head adamantly and said, "You could have had it all Bennett—One Piece, I mean. If you just stayed with us, everything would have worked out alright. But you had to force my hand like this. Regret not though, Bennett old buddy, as your power will join mine, and you can take pride in knowing you helped me in my goals."

Bennett didn't respond, as he was on the verge of collapse. Still smiling, Victor took his hand off of Bennett's shoulder and began to reach straight towards his chest…

— — —

_Bennett was on his knees and panting. "Damn…this guy's really strong," he finally said to his equally-exhausted partner. "Even the powers of the Plant-Plant Fruit can't immobilize him…"_

_Victor remained silent, only looking at Gold Roger. _

_Their fight hadn't gone well, as Gold Roger was able to wipe the floor with them with only one sword and pistol. Everything about the pirate captain outmatched the two bounty hunters._

_Roger simply stood there, grinning at the two fallen fighters, shouldering his blade. "What, is that really it? Come on, I heard you two were known as the Harbingers of the West Blue, but I guess it's just false."_

_"Fuck you," Bennett smartly, looking up at Roger and grinning. "You've beaten us, so why not just end it?"_

_Roger stroked his chin in thought of this and finally responded, "I _could_ do that, but it'd be such a waste of potential. Whaddya think, Silvers?"_

_Roger's first mate Silvers Rayleigh surveyed the two and said, "You sure are right Captain. They seem to have a lot of heart. It'd be a shame to waste such potential."_

_Roger let out a small laugh and nodded. He then turned back to the two and sheathed his sword. "Tell ya what, kids. How would you like to join my crew?"_

_"You're kidding," Bennett replied almost immediately._

_Roger shook his head. "I never joke about such matters. I'm always on the lookout for strong and capable fighters, and you two have certainly shown a lot of guts here today. So whaddya say boys? Would you like to become a part of the Roger Pirates and sail the Grand Line with us?"_

_Bennett recoiled instantly and yelled, "No fucking way! I'm a bounty hunter, not a pirate! I'd rather die than join you."_

_"Well, I won't kill you either way," Roger said with a grin. "The terms of our agreement were that you'd leave if I won. What does your stoic friend there say?"_

_Bennett immediately looked at Victor and said, "No way! We're both partners, and our job is to capture pirates with bounties on their heads, not become—"_

_"I'll do it."_

_Bennett did a double-take to look at Victor, as if to see if he really just said that or not. "What?" was the first thing he uttered._

_Victor stood up and said to Roger, "I'll join your crew, Gold Roger."_

_Bennett was on his feet now and gripping Victor by his shirt collar. "Don't be stupid Victor! He said he wouldn't kill us, so begging for your life like this is—"_

_Victor cut Bennett off by slugging him right in the side of his face, sending him back to the floor in shock. "Shut up Bennett. Joining the Roger Pirates and sailing across the entire Grand Line sounds like a helluva lot of fun. Certainly more fun than hanging out in the West Blue and capturing low-grade bounties."_

_Bennett clearly snapped and yelled back, "What the fuck are you talking about Victor? You're a bounty hunter, remember? A fucking bounty hunter!"_

_Victor, however, remained cool as he simply replied, "I became one because I thought it could offer me excitement. But after two years of working with you, the thrill is long gone, I'm afraid." He then turned to Roger and said, "I'll happily join your crew Captain Roger."_

_Roger let out a laugh and shook Victor's hand. "Welcome to the crew then! You got a name, boy?"_

_"Victor D. Capere."_

_"Victor D. Capere, eh?" Roger mused. Shoving the thought out of his head, he jerked his thumb towards his ship and said, "Get your ass onboard then. We're shipping out!"_

_Victor nodded and began to get on the ship. _

_Roger looked back at Bennett and said, "Last chance, boy. Do you want to join my crew or not?"_

_Bennett spat on the ground by Roger and smartly replied, "I don't trade professions like Victor so easily, I'm afraid. You can take that as a no!"_

_Roger nodded. "Fair enough. It was a valiant effort, boy. Hope I get to see you on the seas someday."_

_Bennett, however, was not done with Victor, as he yelled at him even as he had his back turned and boarding the ship._

_"Is that it then?" he roared. "After two years, we're just splitting up like that? Dammit Victor, we had a reputation! We were known as the Harbingers, and you're just gonna throw all of that—all of the memories away? Answer me Victor, god dammit!"_

_But Victor offered no reply. He simply boarded the ship._

— — —

Victor D. Capere held the Plant-Plant Fruit right in his hand.

With a grin, he ate it rather quickly in three bites. He then looked over at Bennett Morris, who was keeling over and on the verge of dying. Still with a smile on his face, Victor addressed him one last time.

"You know, I think I've finally decided on the name of our ship," he said. "I think _Harbinger_ is a rather fitting name, don'tcha think?"

"Fuck…you…" Bennett said, before dropping to the deck of the ship, dead.

Victor shook his head in seeming sadness before turning towards his onlookers. "Go and get Brownbeard from his cell. We need to tie up some loose ends."

Within a minute, Brownbeard was brought up onto the deck. He was recovering from his wounds, but clearly it was slowly, as he didn't receive any proper medical aid. Despite this, he still seemed to carry an attitude towards his captors.

"The hell do you want?"

Victor smiled and put his arm around the shackled Brownbeard's shoulder. "Mr. Brownbeard—or do you prefer Keith Inzei?—I've brought you up here to let you know of one simple thing."

He brought him towards the edge of the deck and turned him around, showing him Bennett's body lying on the floor. Brownbeard looked at him for a second, before recognizing him as the one who captured him.

"That's right," Victor grinned. "He's the one who caught you. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, he has betrayed us and unfortunately he had to pay the price."

"I'm sure he deserved it, uoh hoh hoh," Brownbeard chuckled.

Victor ignored this and stood face-to-face with the captured pirate. "Indeed. I've brought you here to let you know that there's been a change of plans. You see, the dead fellow over there was the one who wanted your bounty. As for me, I couldn't give a damn about you or your bounty."

Brownbeard eyed Victor suspiciously. "What are you saying?"

"Isn't it obvious?" replied the still-grinning Victor. "It means I now no longer have any use for you. So I'm afraid we're going to have to get rid of you."

Without another word, Victor gave Brownbeard a hard shove, and the unprepared pirate stumbled back a few steps before hitting the railing of the ship and tumbling overboard while still shackled, letting out one surprised scream before hitting the water and sinking.

Victor looked over the edge for a few seconds, before turning back to the Corps of Kings and clapping his hands together. "Well, that's enough excitement for one night, don't you think? I suggest you rest up. There's gonna be a big few days ahead."

"Well what's up first?" Kaede asked.

"Why, just as old Bennett said," Victor quickly replied. "We've got to confront Big Mom—the remaining Yonko—if we're to get to One Piece. Now, enough chatter; I'm going to bed again."

With that, the crew went dispersed, as Victor went back to sleep on the deck of the newly-christened ship _Harbinger_.

* * *

Towards the remaining Yonko...

**Behind the Character (7): Bennett Morris**

Bennett was one of those characters who I invented on the fly. Normally, I put a lot of thought into my OCs, i.e. their personalities and such, but I invented Bennett with two things in mind. One, that his name would be Bennett, and two, that he would wear a flat cap. Other than that, Bennett was one of those characters I wrote as I went along, creating his personality into what it eventually turned into. If I could sum Bennett up in one sentence, it would be: a very proud and competent fighter who was never short on the smarting retorts, even to the very end.

Design-wise, there was no model. The only thing I had in mind was that he would wear a flat cap (or as I like to call it: a 1930's workers hat). Other than that, I created him on the fly from scratch, adding a battleaxe for coolness and to go along with the whole shipwright vibe.

His devil fruit I like to think was somewhat unique. I thought it was one of those powers where at first glance it seemed useless, but if one knew how to utilize it, it could become a powerful weapon. Like the case with Farraday, I downplayed the fruit's effects and used it in a more passive way, allowing the fruit to complement his strengths and enhance his powers and character.

Unfortunately, Bennett was one of those characters who was needed to get another character past a roadblock or situation. And as such, he suffered the fate of being disposed of when his purpose was complete. I don't regret how it turned out, and I like to think I did the best with what I had and making him feel like a real person, instead of just an object needed to get from point A to B.

I did enjoy writing about his backstory with Victor, however.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	89. The Earthrender

After meeting the revolutionaries... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**89: The Earthrender**

The _Thousand Sunny_ was sailing smoothly, for the most part.

Fortunately for the Straw Hat Crew, the revolutionary island of Baltigo was one that was off the beaten path. Wherein, it lies on a more obscure route at the Scattering Point on the Vespian Isles. Due to this, not many pirates take this route (most taking the route Crocodile took, and ending up in Wano Country). However, another advantage this particular route took was that after Baltigo, there were a relative few amount of islands until the four routes of the New World reconvene to where the final three islands (the last of course being Raftel) lay.

On an overhead map, it would appear that the Straw Hats took the far right route, Crocodile took the middle-right route (and met up with Doflamingo), and Victor and the Corps of Kings took the far left route. Due to this separation, none of the three forces were likely to meet each other until the paths all reconvene.

For now, however, the Straw Hat Crew enjoyed their moment of peace and tranquility, as the _Thousand Sunny_ listlessly glided across the New World waters. Business went on as usual (i.e.: Sanji offering food to Robin and Nami, Franky working on the ship, Usopp down in his workshop, Chopper fishing, and Zoro training, ex cetera), until Luffy, who was lying listlessly on his back and staring into the blue sky, declared a statement.

"So who would have thought that Lola's mom was a Yonko. It sure does seem like something she'd mention when she gave us the Vivre Card."

Nami, who had acquired the Vivre Card from her room and was staring intently at it (along with her log pose), looked at the rubbery captain and responded, "Well, she and her crew did say that her mother was a great New World pirate. What bothers me though, is the fact that I've never really heard of Big Mom at all, or what she's done to become famous."

"Come to think of it, me too," Franky agreed. "I've heard all about Whitebeard, Kaido, and Shanks's exploits, but Big Mom is by far the most mysterious of the Yonko."

Everyone seemed to look at Robin at this point, who was currently sitting in chair on the deck and reading a book. When she sensed their glares, she looked around and said in a confused manner: "Yes?"

"Well you're the one that seems to know most about famous pirates," Chopper said, looking away from his fishing pole and towards Robin.

Sanji nodded as he munched idly on one of his creations, adding, "So it seems only natural you might be able to tell us a bit about Big Mom."

Robin closed her book and simply said, "Sorry everybody, but I'm afraid my knowledge is limited on the subject. Really, all I know is that she appeared around the same time as all the other Yonko, and while having the prestige of her fellow pirates, she's not known to pull off major raids or anything like Kaido."

"So she's like Whitebeard then," Nami said, "just known to listlessly wander the seas with no real purpose."

Robin paused for several seconds before saying, "No, unlike Whitebeard, I get the feeling Big Mom has a purpose in the New World, though I couldn't say exactly what that purpose was."

Everyone seemed to sigh at this mystery (save for Hancock), while Nami saw the Vivre Card shift slightly, ordering the crew to change their course slightly.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough," Luffy said optimistically with a smile. "After all, the mother of Lola should be pretty nice."

"Despite being a Yonko…" Sanji added under his breath, apparently not sharing Luffy's optimism.

"Hey!" Nami barked to the crew on the deck, "Come on, this ship isn't gonna move itself! Get to work!"

— — —

On the exact same day as the Straw Hat Crew had their conversation about the most mysterious of the Yonko, Victor was speeding towards the same person.

Like the route the Straw Hat Crew partook in, Victor's route wasn't known for having many islands on it, and as such, granted them quicker access to the final three islands of the New World. However, unlike the Straw Hats, Victor wasn't bogged down by training at Baltigo. While Bennett's ship-building of _Harbinger_ may have taken some time, Victor got about a days head-start from the crew, and as such, would make it towards Big Mom before they did.

After the Bennett fiasco the night before, Victor was plagued with horrible dreams again. This time, it was Bennett the Harvester who haunted them, although the end product was always the same—Straw Hat Luffy would find some way to crush Victor.

Victor would call himself a cynic and skeptic by every means of the word, however, even he was starting to get upset and increasingly paranoid at these visions. After having several nightmares, Victor had vowed to get rid of Straw Hat, if only to silence his dreams and get a good night sleep.

Fortunately, Victor was a devious tactician, and had already decided how to properly do it. Luckily, it factored in Big Mom as well.

The ship _Harbinger_ was directly on course, and Victor estimated it would take them less than an hour to finally meet at the converging paths for the final three islands, where he knew Big Mom was.

However, the Corps of Kings didn't like being left in the dark, and pressed Victor about information on the Yonko.

"I mean, I don't know anything about Big Mom," Aliyyah said. "Sure she's a Yonko and must be powerful, but is that it?"

Victor, having enough of their questions, gathered the whole group up and decided to tell them everything he knew.

"Alright, alright, listen up," he said. "As far as my knowledge goes, Big Mom is the _real_ reason the Yonko's are really in a deadlock."

"What does that mean?" asked Daron.

Victor scratched his head for a second. "Well, it's like this: for the longest time there were four Yonko, Whitebeard, Shanks, Kaido, and Big Mom. Now all these pirates were known to be the closest to One Piece, yet none of them had achieved it after several years."

Everyone remained silent while they listened to his explanation.

"We can exclude Whitebeard from the race to One Piece," Victor continued, "since he showed absolutely no interest, and only wandered the New World doing whatever the fuck he wanted. As for Kaido, he was probably the most ambitious, while Shanks was bit more laid back and enjoyed taking his time, yet still showed wishes to get to the treasure, at least he was last time I met him."

"So how does Big Mom factor in?" questioned Kenji.

"Well I'll tell ya," answered Victor. "Ya see, like me and Shanks, Big Mom once served on Gold Roger's pirate crew. Now for some reason or another, Big Mom was rather close to Roger, and did whatever he said. So after Roger put all his treasure on Raftel, Big Mom felt…well, let's say _driven_ to defend it."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Vendrix, getting bored with the story.

Suddenly, _Harbinger_ shook as a massive current took the ship, making it turn violently towards the right. Smiling, Victor looked at Vendrix and replied, "You'll see."

"The hell is going on?" roared Kaede, grabbing onto the side of the ship, as it was now moving at top speeds.

Victor stood up and look towards the front, saying, "Relax! This is what happens when the four routes in the New World come together. They're all connected by a massive current—which seems to originate by Raftel it seems—yet at this point it's very violent, connecting all four routes back to one again for the final three islands on the Grand Line; when they all band together, it's called the Convergence Point!"

"Why don'tcha speak in English, partner," Benjamin said, also holding onto the ship. "What exactly is happening?"

Victor uttered a small laugh and said, "Well, the reason the two middlemost routes are the most popular is because this process isn't as extreme to convene in the middle. However, since we're on the far left route, this current is turning us right in an incredibly short amount of time, causing the uneasiness you're feeling now. Don't worry, soon we'll all be towards the middle and it'll be smooth sailin' for a while."

_Harbinger_ continued to pick up speed and turn more violently towards the right in an attempt to meet at the middle of all four routes. Despite the ship creaking, it still held, causing Victor to grin even wider.

"Reason number one I wanted a ship made out of Adam Wood!" he called back to the Corps of Kings. "Something like this might make splinters out of anything weaker!"

Soon enough, the current began to lessen in force, and _Harbinger_ began to relax. Finally, the current stopped pulling the ship altogether, leaving it to once again drift pleasantly along the ocean. The group seemed to relax finally, yet Victor moved up to the very front of the ship and put his hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun.

After several seconds, he turned back to the Corps of Kings and said, "Yep, there she is, just as I expected."

"What're you talking about?" asked Aliyyah.

What Victor saw came into view much clearer after a few more seconds, and the entire Corps of Kings gathered towards the front to see. Finally, they could all make out the image, and everyone save for Victor and Tobias reacted with surprise and shock.

Not too far away from _Harbinger_, lie an entire row of warships, blocking the path towards the island closely behind it altogether. There were at least two dozen ships as they all lay motionless together in a single straight line, making it impossible to bypass.

"_That's_ the reason why there's a Yonko deadlock," laughed Victor. "After Gold Roger made One Piece, Big Mom felt a strange need to defend it from everybody, and she achieves it by a complete and total blockade of the final three islands. As far as I know, no one's ever gotten past it."

"Wow…" was all Daron could say. However, there was a small grin of excitement on his face.

"A few ships leave at a time for recruitment and stealing of goods, keeping Big Mom's name up as a fearsome Yonko," Victor continued, "yet this is where her fleet lays the entire time, ready to destroy any ship that comes close. Reason two why I wanted a ship made of Adam Wood; it'll make this encounter a bit easier."

"Kikiki, so we're really going headfirst into that blockade?" asked a clearly excited Vendrix.

Victor nodded. "So get your weapons ready on standby. Before we engage in all-out war first, I'm gonna have a little talk with an old acquaintance."

As _Harbinger_ drew closer to Big Mom's blockade, more and more of the Yonko's ships began to notice it. Finally, a pirate came towards the very edge of the middlemost ship and largest ship, the ship that Big Mom herself resides in.

_"STATE YOUR BUSINESS NOW OR WE WILL ALL FIRE UPON YOUR SHIP!" _he said into a den-den mushi, projecting his voice to a massive roar to the Corps of Kings and Victor.

Victor moved in front of everyone and shouted back: _"TELL BIG MOM THAT MR. VICTOR D. CAPERE IS HERE! IF SHE WILL PERMIT, I WOULD LIKE TO COME ONTO HER SHIP WITH ONE OF MY MEN AND HAVE A WORD WITH HER!"_

The pirate caught what he said and went to deliver the message. After what seemed like ages, he returned and said, _"SHE WILL ALLOW YOU AND ONLY ONE OTHER PERSON MR. VICTOR TO GET ON HER SHIP. HOWEVER, YOUR SHIP MUST STAY RIGHT WHERE IT IS, AND YOU SHALL COME IN ON A DINGHY!"_

_"AGREED!"_

Victor looked to Tobias and said, "You're comin' with me. Everyone else, anchor the ship and stay here. When the time comes, you'll know what to do. Just be ready for battle, but don't attack unprovoked. Got it?"

Everyone nodded; Victor looked at Benjamin.

"You're in charge of the group for now, make sure some of them don't get out of hand." He looked at Vendrix, who merely snickered back.

"You got it, partner," Benjamin McAllister replied, tipping his cap.

Victor nodded and looked back at Tobias. "Dream us up a ship and let's get over there."

_Harbinger_ stood motionless as Victor and Tobias moved and eventually got onto Big Mom's ship.

When they got on the deck, they saw Big Mom herself standing right across from them, behind her were a large amount of fearsome-looking pirates, ready to do battle. Big Mom herself was about the size of Kaido or Whitebeard, and like her daughter Lola, was rather unattractive. She had unkempt red hair that she attempted to keep away from her forehead with a band, having it all clump together liked a bush. She had a beak-like nose and small beady eyes. She was dressed in a white corsair's shirt with baggy black pants, wearing a captain's cloak over her shoulders.

She looked at Victor with a frown on her face, surveying him. "Hello Victor."

Victor, however, kept his smile and said, "Hello yourself, Leila Terpscere. Or should I call you Big Mom from know on? That was what you were known by on Roger's ship after all."

Big Mom smirked and replied, "As I remember, you weren't big on nicknames yourself. Aye, that was you Victor: always polite by callin' people Mr. or Miss, yet there was always a certain…intensity to you. Something that always made you look forward to a fight and never back down. Aye, you were as ferocious as they came."

"And as _I_ remember," shot back Victor, "you didn't much care for fighting, but always tended to the wounded like an obedient nurse. I believe it was that that earned you the nickname of Big Mom anyways—the pseudo-mother of the crew, if you will. Still, if you don't mind, I'll call you Leila."

"As you wish," responded Big Mom. "But what can I do for you?"

Victor cracked his neck and said, "Let's just get down to brass tacks. You're in the way to Raftel, and I wanna go there. I figured since we're old friends, you'd let me through."

Big Mom shook her head and calmly stated, "No can do I'm afraid, Victor. You know I won't let anyone through to try and get One Piece—not even Shanks. If anyone were to find that treasure, Roger's legacy would pass, and I can't let that happen out of the respect I have for the man."

"Well then I'm afraid we're at a disagreement," responded Victor quickly. "So not even nostalgia will get me through, eh?"

"Might I inquire as to what you want to do with One Piece? As I remember, you weren't that big on treasure. You were more the type to seek fun and adventure."

Victor shook his head and said, "That was the past I'm afraid, Leila. However, would it help if I said I wanted to get to One Piece to send a message to the world and effectively end the pirate world for good?"

"Bwowowowo!" laughed Big Mom. "And how would just getting to One Piece end the pirate world?"

"Oh, I assure you I have my methods," Victor coolly replied, "not that it's any of your business."

Big Mom shook her head and said, "No can do I'm afraid. You should know that I love everything Roger stood for—including the pirate lifestyle. So you can just turn around and go back to wherever you came from, 'cause you're certainly not getting through here."

Victor sighed and simply said, "Such a shame…"

With that, he punched the air, and surprisingly, the air itself cracked, causing Big Mom to mumble, "What…"

Using the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, he was able send a shockwave through the air and hit Big Mom dead in the chest, sending her flying back and collapsing to the floor. The pirates immediately went to her aid as Victor looked at the calm Tobias.

"Looks like we're fighting our way through here…not that I expected any different…"

"You should know better than that, Victor," he heard Big Mom say.

He turned around to see Big Mom stand upright, as dirt seemingly seemed to form around her and repair the damage.

"Ah, that's right," Victor said, slamming his fist into his palm with understanding. "You ate the Earth-Earth Fruit, didn't you? I should have known a simple attack like that couldn't beat a Logia, eh Big Mom the Earthrender?"

Big Mom cracked her neck and said, "I don't know how you've acquired Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, but I don't intend to let you live now."

With that, all her pirates moved away from her, as rage took her face. From behind her, a massive amount of dirt rose up in what appeared to be a wave. When it was big enough, she threw her arms forward and said, "Mudslide!"

The large amount of dirt flew towards them in a large wave, as Victor looked to Tobias, who nodded and jumped in front of Victor. He touched the ground and said, "Dream-Dream Cube!"

With that, a cube of yellow transparent shields covered both Tobias and Victor, shielding them when the mudslide hit, just passing over them, yet not touching them. When it passed, the shield disappeared as Big Mom stared down at Victor.

"Alright, alright, if it's a fight you want, I'm willing to supply one," Victor said. "However, not on this crowded ship. I was thinking we could go to that cozy island behind you and duke it out."

Big Mom eyed Victor suspiciously.

"I get it, I get it," Victor said, raising his hands disarmingly. "You'll think I'll run after that. If it makes ya feel better, you can take your crew with ya and make sure I don't escape. Of course, I'll have my crew on hand as well."

Finally, Big Mom looked around and said, "Fine…get to the island in an hour from now. That should give me enough time to make proper defensive measures. Just know, however, Victor, that I intend to kill you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Leila," was all Victor replied. "But thank you for your flexibility. I'll meet you in the middle of that island in an hour."

With that, Victor and Tobias left to get back to the _Harbinger_.

* * *

Battle with Big Mom!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	90. Guillotine

Onto the first of the final three islands. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**90: Guillotine**

The final three islands in the New World are different in their own right. While, of course, the last of the three is Raftel, all three islands have incredibly irregular magnetic holds; each island has an incredibly short logging time due to this. Another similarity that all three islands share is that none of them have human settlers living there. Animals and plant-life thrive there, but no human presence hinders their growth and progress.

The first of the three islands is known as Ember Isle, due to its forests of red-leaved trees, giving off the look that the island is on fire. The island itself had two main forests covering its right and left side from an overhead map. However, in the middle, there is a large stretch of flatland going from the top of the island all the way to a bottom in a perfect strip.

While not living there permanently, members of Big Mom's crew (known as the Earthland Pirates) rest and relax there whenever they're relieved from constant guard duty.

This day, however, the wind blew harshly on the Ember Isle, as the red leaves swayed with it. The animals, normally roaming wherever they want, decided to stay away from flatlands of the island, as they could use their sense to know what was about to happen.

Standing on opposite sides from each other stood two opposing forces.

On the northern end of the flatlands stood Big Mom. Behind her was the majority of the Earthland Pirates, ready to attack at the first sign of trouble. On the southern end of the flatlands, stood Victor, and behind him were the Corps of Kings.

They had anchored _Harbinger_ just out of range of Big Mom's fleet and had Tobias dream up a ship so they could land on the Ember Isle. However, now stood two forces on the opposite ends of each other, ready to fight for what their ultimate goals.

Victor and Big Mom stepped forward, leaving their two crews to stay where they were, ready to fight if necessary. When they were close enough, Victor stopped and gave Big Mom a disarming smile.

"It doesn't have to be like this Leila. You could just grant me passage through your blockade, and all would be well."

Big Mom shook her head firmly. "I'm afraid I can't let that happen Victor. I don't know how you acquired Whitebeard's power, but I know that you're not using it for any good. So I'm going to have to end it now."

"It was a power I've acquired near the end of my tenure on Roger's crew," replied Victor. "But that's a story for another day. For now, I'm afraid the inevitable must occur. Remember the rules then. A one-on-one fight between you and me. If I beat you, you let me pass, and if you beat me, I go away."

Big Mom smiled and said, "Kind of like the deal Roger offered you when you and your bounty hunting partner tried to capture him."

"Something like that…"

Another cool breeze passed through the two parallel fire-red forests, before—as if sensing it—both Victor and Big Mom moved to attack together.

Big Mom clutched the ground and using the power of the Earth-Earth Fruit, ripped out a chunk of the earth and sent it flying towards Victor. "Earthen Crush!" she yelled as it flew towards Victor.

Victor sighed and used the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to sent a vibration right at the block of earth, shattering it and sending it flying to the floor. Big Mom took advantage of this and rushed straight towards the unsuspecting Victor.

She cocked back her fist and used her earthen powers to make it grow to roughly twice its size. With a grunt, she threw it straight at Victor's chest. Victor's reflexes served him well, however, as he was able to turn his body to the side for a narrow miss. He raised his arm up and used the Dice-Dice powers to turn it into a blade, sending it crashing down and severing Big Mom's outstretched arm.

Big Mom didn't pay this severing any mind due to her Logia intangibility, and quickly reconstituted her arm. With a roar, she swiped her free arm and hit Victor dead in the chest. Unfortunately, Big Mom didn't injured Victor, as he simply transformed into lightning, letting her strike pass right through him.

"What th—UGH!" she asked, as she felt electricity run up her arm.

"Not many people know this, but the earth is a fairly decent conductor," Victor replied with a smile. "Not good enough to cause much injury, but enough for you to certainly feel it."

"Son of a bitch!" Big Mom said before leaping away from Victor, not wanting to confront him with close-combat anymore.

She gripped her arm and began to rub it in hopes to expel the electricity as she said, "What the hell is with you Victor? It's almost as if you have several different devil fruit powers."

Victor didn't offer a reply, simply smiling and cracking his neck.

A slightly-agitated Big Mom stated, "Fine! That won't stop me from losing anyways!" With that, dropped down and smashed her fist towards the ground, causing the earth to shake and the ground to crack. "Earthen Rend!"

The cracks branched out past her and sped towards Victor, getting bigger and more dangerous. When it finally reached Victor, it began to separate, causing him to jump into the air to avoid falling in; while in the air, he struck up a strange pose and looked about to attack.

"Oh no you don't!" roared Big Mom as she summoned a large wave of earth behind her and sent it flying towards the airborne Victor. "Landslide!"

The unprepared Victor couldn't dodge, and as such, took the full force of the blow, sending him flying to the ground and getting buried by the earth. Big Mom stood there for a second, and then let out a laugh.

"Bwohoho, guess you got a bit too cocky," she said amidst her laughter, "eh, Vict—"

She was cut off as a beam of light shot through the earth that covered Victor and stuck Big Mom right in her shoulder, causing her to wince and grab it in pain. Surprisingly, she couldn't transform into earth and bypass the damage.

Victor very calmly pushed past the earth covering him and looked at Big Mom with an expressionless face.

"You son of a bitch!" Big Mom snarled. "Using Haki to—"

She was suddenly interrupted by a slew of coughing and sneezing. Her eyes began to run and when she was finished, she simply looked at Victor with complete surprise stamped on her face. "Don't tell me this is—"

"Why my dear Leila, it seems like you've succumbed to the Break-Down Bug," Victor smirked, cutting her off. "Why don'tcha take a guess as to when you got infected?"

"Having Kaido's Flu-Flu Fruit too!" roared Big Mom. "Just how did you accrue _two_ Yonko's devil fruit powers?"

Suddenly, Victor was right in front of her, and with a smile, used the powers of the Dark-Dark Fruit to grab her shoulder, cancelling out her powers. "It's a long story," he said, cocking back his unused fist. "I'll tell ya about it some other—OOPH!"

Big Mom had caught him off guard, and punched Victor straight in the chest with her free hand, causing him to let go of her and sending him landing on the floor a few feet away. After doing that, she succumbed to a series of sneezes.

"Captain, let us help you!" some members of the Earthland Pirates pleaded.

"SHUT UP AND STAY OUT OF THIS!" Big Mom roared back to them. "I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP TO WIN!"

Victor, however, was already getting up. He clutched his stomach and said offhandedly, "Such a shame that the Dark-Dark Fruit doesn't allow for intangibility. I took that one head-on."

Big Mom struck the ground again as the earth began to shatter beneath Victor's feet. "Earthen Rend!"

Victor leapt into the air yet again and aimed at Big Mom, throwing his arm in front of him and yelling, "Sango!"

With that, a large burst of electricity flew towards Big Mom in a massive arc, but she quickly dropped to the floor and put both hands on the ground. With a grunt, she pulled it up and created a massive earthen wall right in front of her, taking the brunt of the blast.

Victor landed back towards the ground and when the wall disappeared, he saw Big Mom keeling over and coughing up a storm. "Such a shame," he smirked. "Even Logia's can't stand up to the power of microbiology."

Big Mom regained her stance and said, "Don't worry about me, Victor. I'm far from finished."

"Unfortunately, your loss is already at hand," Victor persisted.

"Don't think I'm so weak that a little cold can stop me."

Victor shook his head and said, "Not that, I'm afraid. Do you remember the day when I was taken into the crew?"

"What does that matter?"

"Ah, but it does," continued Victor. "Anyways, my partner had control of a very unique devil fruit called the Plant-Plant Fruit. Generally, it worked best in the ground—like all plants do—but he always had this attack where he planted seeds on someone's body and had it grow right on them. During our first little close-combat strike, I was able to plant some seeds on you just like Bennett used to."

Big Mom had enough of his conversation and prepared to strike again, increasing the size of her fist and was prepared to strike.

"So I wonder how it would work when someone is _made_ of earth," he continued with a grin.

"ENOUGH!" Big Mom roared, charging straight at Victor with her fist cocked back.

Victor simply snapped his fingers and Big Mom stopped dead in her tracks. From out of her skin, plants began to sprout and hinder her movements. However, unlike when Bennett used the power, the plants were slow to grow, and didn't stop her completely.

"Hmm, I must not have enough control yet," Victor mused. "Either that or it's acting like how it normally would in earth, but thankfully, I know how to solve it. Aliyyah!"

"What's up?" she called from behind Victor.

"Can you see to it that Leila gets a fine soaking of water?"

Aliyyah smirked and leapt forward, cocking her fist back. "Sure thing. Typhoon!"

With that, a flurry of water flew from her fist and struck Big Mom dead on. It didn't hurt her, but it served its purpose, and suddenly the plants on her body grew at a rapid rate, blocking her vision and completely immobilizing her. Meanwhile, she continued to cough and sneeze.

Easy pickings for Victor.

— — —

"Hey guys, come take a look at this!"

Everyone on the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_ immediately looked up at Nami and ran towards her.

"What's going on?" asked Franky.

When everyone was around her, Nami held out her hand and revealed the Vivre Card she was holding. Much to everyone's surprise, the edges of the card were beginning to burn, as if embers had scorched the side of it.

"Could that mean…" Robin started.

Nami nodded and answered what everyone was thinking. "It's looking like someone's attacking Lola's mother!"

— — —

"Hey! He used another pirate to fight!" shouted some members of the Earthland Pirates. "He's broken the rules! Get them!"

"Please don't connect us with pirates," Victor said in a slightly-offended tone. He looked behind him to the Corps of Kings and said, "Take care of them please."

They all nodded and immediately leapt into action, and before anyone knew it, Ember Isle became a battleground. Big Mom, on the other hand, was standing perfectly still, coughing a bit, but otherwise not doing much.

_("hey, Leila, we got some crewmates injured after our fight with Whitebeard")_

She let out a large sneeze followed by a cough as she began to rip at the vegetation growing on her skin.

Victor slowly began to move towards her.

_("did anyone ever tell you ya got a motherly touch, Leila?")_

"Don't even try and struggle," Victor said calmly. "It's over Ms. Terpscere."

_("hey Leila, didja hear what the crew's callin' ya these days?" asked a grinning Roger. "they're callin' ya Big Mom 'cause they say you remind them of their own mothers")_

Something inside Big Mom seemed to snap, and she suddenly went into a frenzy, ripping at the plant-life with one hand, and using the other to rupture the very earth around her. Victor took note of this, and approached her a little more cautiously. "Give it up Leila!" he roared to her as the ground began to crack underneath him. "You can't nurse yourself out of this one!"

_("thanks, Big Mom, your treatment always makes me feel better")_

"YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE PIECE VICTOR!" Big Mom roared as she summoned a massive wave of earth behind her and sent it flying towards Victor.

He quickly leapt out of the way, but Big Mom moved her free hand upward and suddenly a large pillar of earth flew from the ground and struck Victor square in the chin, causing him to grunt and go back to the ground.

"Crazy woman," he cursed under his breath as he rushed straight towards her.

She summoned a massive wall between them, but Victor was ready. He cocked his fist back and turned it into lava, easily smashing through the earthen barrier. Then, using the power of the Glint-Glint Fruit, he was suddenly behind her.

In a last-ditch effort, Big Mom threw her fist behind her towards Victor, but he transformed into lightning and it only gave her a small electric shock. Then, in one triumphant move, Victor revealed a pair of seastone cuffs and clasped it on one of Big Mom's wrists, immediately draining her powers.

Despite this, she still continued to thrash around, even as Victor clasped her other hand to the cuffs and put her hands behind her back. With a grunt, Victor grabbed the back of her head and forced her to the ground.

"Struggling will only make this harder!" Victor shouted to Big Mom as she continued to thrash around and shout obscenities. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on killing you. No, no, you're much too valuable to me right now to do that!"

But Big Mom would not stop, and finally, a frustrated Victor struck her in the back of her head and knocked her out cold. With a sigh, he looked behind him and saw the battle still going on between the Corps of Kings and the Earthland Pirates.

Despite them being the crew of a Yonko, they didn't stand a chance against the Corps of Kings powers. Victor smiled at this as he knew the outcome would end in their favor.

Victor looked back at the unconscious Big Mom as his smile persisted. "Oh yes, you'll be quite valuable to me alive…"

* * *

Another Yonko falls...

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	91. Crash, Capture, and Cryptically Strange

Meanwhile, on the _Thousand Sunny_... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**91: Crash, Capture, and Cryptically Strange**

"What the hell do you mean something's happening to Lola's mom!" shouted Luffy indignantly to his crew.

Nami held up Big Mom's Vivre Card and showed Luffy the burning edges. "When the Vivre Card starts burning, that mean's the person's life is vanishing," she explained.

"I know that!" responded Luffy. "But who the hell could possibly injure her? She's a Yonko, after all!"

"Who do ya think?" asked Zoro with a sigh.

Luffy understood the implication and looked to Nami again. "How long until we get to Big Mom's position?"

Nami looked at her log pose and said, "The next island is coming up rather quickly. I don't know if that's the island she's on, but the implication from the Vivre Card implies that she's close as well."

Luffy looked at Franky and asked harshly, "Can't you make the ship go any faster?"

"If you wanna waste all the cola's supply, sure," he quickly replied. "However, I don't think we'll be able to restock on it for a—"

"I don't care! Just get the ship moving faster!"

Franky got the point and started moving. "Alright, alright, I got it. Come on Usopp, help me out."

Usopp followed Franky as they went to another section of the _Thousand Sunny_. Luffy just looked at the card again and said to himself, "I won't let you have another victim, Victor!"

— — —

"Shit, they're really strong!"

"Who the fuck are these guys?"

"Watch out, they're attacking again!"

Benjamin McAllister moved quickly and drew his nodachi out of his scabbard, killing the closest Earthland Pirate to him. One of his companions cursed at Benjamin and aimed a pistol straight towards his head, but his life was quickly ended when Vendrix shot him in the head first, dropping him to the ground in a second.

"Kikiki, you guys don't stand a chance!" he smirked, looking at the other pirates, who seemed to cower in fear.

Reaching into his trench coat, Vendrix pulled out a handmade grenade and threw it towards the crowd, taking out several pirates with its explosion. Those who tried to retreat were struck by a massive stream of water, courtesy of Aliyyah the Typhoon.

Kenji and Kaede were in their fully transformed modes, throwing hapless pirates aside like they were trash, while Daron Arkan unleashed a barrage of strikes to knock out a group single-handedly, using the powers of his Mend-Mend Fruit to cope with the damage.

Tobias dreamed up an intricate spear and blocked a pirate's strike, dreaming up a knife behind him that buried itself in his leg, sending him to the floor in pain. Tobias took pity on the man and let him be, moving on to his next target.

Victor D. Capere, meanwhile, was calmly sitting down next to the unconscious Big Mom, watching the madness unfold with a grin on his face. He lightly tapped Big Mom on the side of her head and commented, "Your pirates mean well, but I'm afraid they can't match the power of my guys. Such a shame, don'tcha think?"

Big Mom didn't respond.

With that, Victor seemed to come to a realization and stood up, saying, "Oh that's right, we've still got your little fleet to deal with, don't we? Oh well, that's no matter; Tobias!"

Tobias was by his side almost immediately. He and the Dreamer picked up Big Mom together and went to the shore of Ember Isle, leaving the rest of the Corps of Kings to finish off what they'd started. Tobias quickly dreamed up a boat and they put Big Mom in it, and set sail, going back towards _Harbinger_.

"By the time we get back, they should be finished," Tobias said quietly, closing his eyes as the ship drew closer towards Big Mom's fleet.

Victor let out a small laugh and replied, "Yeah, those fools never stood much of a chance anyway…"

The ship was close enough now for the Earthland Pirates on the fleet to notice them coming. Whispers broke out among the crew members, and when they spotted the unconscious Big Mom on their ship, they assumed the worst.

_"ALL SHIPS! REPEAT: ALL SHIPS," _roared the den-den mushi as a pirate spoke into it to relay the message._ "DO NOT FIRE AMONG THE VESSEL! REPEAT: DO NOT FIRE AMONG THE VESSEL! THE CAPTAIN IS ON THAT SHIP! DO NOT SINK THE SHIP AND RISK KILLING THE CAPTAIN AS WELL!"_

"Seems like they really care about their captain," Tobias stated quietly.

Victor nodded and stood up and walked towards the front of the small ship. "Good for us they don't fire, or we might sink like stones."

_"BE READY TO BOARD THE VESSEL AND SAVE THE CAPTAIN WHEN THEY'RE CLOSE ENOUGH!"_ the den-den mushi wailed. _"REPEAT: ARM YOURSELVES AND GET READY TO RETRIEVE THE CAPTAIN!"_

Victor shot his fist straight into the air and smiled at the fleet. "Sorry, but I won't give you a chance to try and board us!" Lava began to form around his fist and with a roar, he sent a massive amount of lava fists flying into the air. "Meteor Volcano!"

The lava fists arced and began to land on the Yonko's fleet, causing a large amount of panic and screams. Victor didn't stop the constant flow of fists, and soon enough, entire ships began to sink due to the damage.

_"PUT OUT THE FIRES NOW!" _roared the den-den mushi. _"ABANDON THE SHIP IF NECESSARY! DON'T FIRE ON THE SHIP, HOWEVER! REPEAT: DON'T FIRE ON THE FUCKIN' SHIP!"_

"So very loyal to the captain," Victor grinned. "That, however, will be your downfall!"

_"EARTHLAND PIRATES, ABANDON THE SHIP AND BEGIN TO REGROUP! WE'LL TAKE THE SHIP BY FORCE! REPEAT: ABANDON THE SHIPS AND—_BZZZZT!"

The warning went out as Big Mom's personal flagship succumbed to the damage of the meteors, and listed, sending it to the bottom of the sea. It wasn't long before the tight line the fleet held for who knows how long in an attempt to block pirates from Raftel, broke apart, as every ship either sunk or fled.

Victor looked at the closest fleeing galleon and cocked his fist back, turning it into lava yet again. With a roar, he threw it forward and a massive lava fist rocketed out of it, aimed right for the ship. "Great Eruption!"

The ship took the attack right in the back, sinking it almost instantly. It was clear that the pirates were so panicked that they either forgot, or didn't care about _Harbinger_, which was still anchored in front of the fleet the entire time. However, with the fleet now scattered, the ship Victor, Tobias, and Big Mom rode in went completely uncontested, and they boarded _Harbinger_ without any opposition at all.

— — —

"You fucking cowardly dogs!" Big Mom roared while being chained at the mast to the entire group on the deck of _Harbinger_. "You release me this instant, and I'll happily show you why they call me the Earthrender!"

"You certainly talk a lot…" Daron commented, lazily scratching the back of his head; it was his turn to guard her, as she was chained to the mast with regular chains—although still had a pair of seastone cuffs tying her hands behind her back—but one would have to be cautious when dealing with a Yonko.

"What have you done with my crew?" she demanded. "Tell me right now, before I break these chains and send you flying!"

Daron smiled listlessly and replied, "You can spare us your false bravado; you're not breakin' out of those chains anytime soon. I'm afraid with your crew—"

"We slaughtered them all!" Vendrix cut off, entering the scene with a grin on his face. "I hope you said your goodbye's to 'em, 'cause they ain't never comin' back to see ya again!"

Daron looked at Vendrix with disappointment and said, "It's not fair to lie to her." He looked back at Big Mom. "We didn't kill _all_ of them. There were some who were just knocked unconscious, or those who fled. However, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it for you…the Earthland Pirates are effectively disbanded."

This caused Big Mom to go into a fury, as she struggled with the chains and was roaring all types of threats at the two.

"Keep her quiet back there!" Victor called to them, as he just as quickly turned back to Tobias. "How much longer until the island's logged?"

"Less than thirty minutes," Tobias quietly replied.

Victor smiled and said, "I always remembered these islands being a breeze. Now I know why Big Mom chose this particular spot to stop pirates—the rest would be too easy if pirates just simply passed through. Ain't that right, Leila?"

"Don't you dare speak to me, you rash, hot-headed, scheming son of a—"

"Just as I thought," Victor said, tuning the rest of her out. "Once we're done with this island, I want to head out immediately so we can prepare."

"Do you really think usin' her as bait will send the Straw Hats coming right for us, partner?" asked Benjamin curiously.

Victor nodded. "We know from our observations that Leila's daughter—was her name Linda or Leslie?—gave them a piece of her Vivre Card. Now I know that the Straw Hats have gotten pretty deep into the New World, and will be seeking out an ally. After puttin' two and two together, they should realize that Linda or Leslie's mother is actually Big Mom, and they'll set straight for her and seek some help. They'll even probably be hastened when realizing her life's in danger."

Victor began to walk towards Big Mom, who eyed him dangerously. "And I happen to know from past experience that Leila never left without her Vivre Card on her," he continued. "However, after searching you we haven't found it—"

"And you never will!" Big Mom cut in with a sneer. "I've got it hidden on me in a place you'll never find it!"

"It's all the same to us," Victor coldly responded. "Nothing needs to change in our plans at all; it will only end with the Straw Hat's demise."

"I don't know who these 'Straw Hats' are, but if Lola gave them a piece of my Vivre Card, then they must be important to her," Big Mom said defiantly. "And I'll be damned if I let the likes of you use me as bait to lure them into some sorta trap!"

"Well, Leila, I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice…" Victor smirked. "So I'd suggest you just be quiet and remain calm, 'cause nothing can help you anyways."

"Fuck you!" Big Mom stated proudly.

Victor laughed and simply replied, "That's the second time I've had someone say that to me recently. Regardless, this is going to happen, and you're doing it whether you like it or not…"

Within the next thirty minutes, _Harbinger_ set sail from Ember Isle to the second of the final three islands on the Grand Line.

— — —

Despite using almost all the _Thousand Sunny's_ cola supply (some reserves only to be used in an emergency were still left), the Straw Hat Crew didn't meet go through the current and appear at the Convergence Point of the New World until after an hour when Victor's crew set sail from Ember Isle, while the night was coming upon them.

Once there, they examined the wreckage of what was once Big Mom's pirate fleet, and the smoke drifting from the wreckage told them that this had happened somewhat recently.

"What is this?" Chopper asked with shock written on his face.

"If I were to guess, it's the remains of Big Mom's crew," Robin said with a grimace on her face.

Boa Hancock nodded and confirmed their beliefs. "That's right. Big Mom was known to have a large fleet bent on protecting the final three islands of the Grand Line and stopping anyone from getting through."

"You mean you knew?" inquired Usopp. "Why the hell didn't you tell us before?"

"Even I didn't know for sure," Hancock replied sourly. "That was only a rumor the Shichibukai were told, but no one could ever really verify, because no ones ever gotten this far in the New World. And anyone that has probably didn't live to tell the tale."

The _Thousand Sunny_ drifted silently through the wreckage as the crew looked on either side of the ship to see if there were any survivors, but they could find none. Without saying a word to one another, they docked on the Ember Isle, and began their hour of logging it.

All the while, Luffy continued to look at the Vivre Card with anger stamped on his face, even though Nami assured him that Big Mom was still alive and ahead of them, either on the next island or on Raftel.

Despite being so close to the legendary treasure and subsequently becoming King of the Pirates, Luffy couldn't feel anything by anger towards the one who had caused all of this destruction and pain.

Victor D. Capere.

— — —

After making a pact with Donquixote Doflamingo, Sir Crocodile thought that there was relatively little tension between the two former Shichibukai, contrary to what he thought in the beginning.

Crocodile had told Doflamingo everything he had known about Victor—his powers, his quest for Poseidon, his ultimate goal of One Piece—and Doflamingo took it quietly, and after that, there was little mingling between the two, save for when they pick up a clue or trail.

Unfortunately, due to Victor taking a completely different route from them, neither of them found any clues about Victor on any island they landed on. After a while, they simply concluded that Victor wasn't on their specific route, and that they would try and pick up his trail after all the routes converged.

"You know, I heard the Yonko Big Mom is waiting for anyone who makes it to the final three islands," Doflamingo chuckled to Crocodile.

Crocodile took a puff on his cigar and said, "So what? If that's the case, that means we plow through her and go get Victor."

"That's the spirit, Crocodile-Man!" laughed Doflamingo. "Normally I wouldn't be too interested in findin' One Piece, but then I got to thinking. Imagine what kind of message it would send to the New Age if I found the biggest myth on these waters and dispelled anyone's notions about it again. Why, it would usher in a new generation of pirates who would welcome the ideas of the New Age!"

Crocodile looked uninterested as he said, "Keep your philosophies to yourself, I really don't care."

"Oh come on, Croc," Doflamingo said, putting his hand on his shoulder. "Surely you have some aspirations of your own."

"My only aspiration is to find Victor and end his life," Crocodile replied bluntly.

"Fufufu, a worthy goal."

Soon enough, they came across the current that sent all four paths in the New World together again. Due to them being on the middle two paths, it the sensation wasn't as extreme to them, and they passed through to the Convergence Point with ease.

However, due to their particular route having more islands to log than Victor or Luffy's, when they appeared, the wreckage of Big Mom's fleet was already passed, and not even smoke drifted from it anymore.

"Well, well, well, look at that," Doflamingo chuckled. "Looks like someone had themselves a fuck of a wild party."

Crocodile only remained silent.

They were about to pass through the wreckage, when they suddenly heard several noises behind them. They looked and saw a single galleon that just got out of the current.

"Fufu, wonder who that is," Doflamingo marveled.

Soon enough, however, it became apparent that the ship was none other than a marine ship. Crocodile got a closer look and internally sighed at who he saw.

There, on the marine ship, a man stood at the head. And that man was none other than Rear-Admiral White Chase Smoker.

* * *

All the players are reaching the endgame!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	92. Trip the Trap in Time

Meeting with the marine. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**92: Trip the Trap in Time**

After several seconds of silence, Sir Crocodile and Donquixote Doflamingo looked at each other in confusion. They had made eye contact with Rear-Admiral Smoker, and they were sure he saw them, yet he didn't react in any way.

"Guess our marine friend's not gonna do anything," chuckled Doflamingo. "Doesn't matter to me—I don't much feel like taking him on anyways."

Crocodile took a puff on his cigar and replied, "I'd be cautious around him. Who knows what he'll do. He could just be trying to give us a false sense of security."

"Fufufu, let's get in closer," suggested Doflamingo. "I wanna see what's up."

Crocodile offered no opposition, although Doflamingo's crew seemed to.

White Chase Smoker, on the other hand, had in fact seen the two former Shichibukai, yet when the marines under his command asked about it, Smoker gave no real reply, simply looking at the wreckage of Big Mom's fleet and saying, "Bring me a den-den mushi, now."

It was brought to him rather quickly, and Smoker took it and spoke into it. "Fleet-Admiral Sengoku, do you read me?"

After a few seconds, a reply: "I copy Rear-Admiral Smoker. What's the status update?"

"After the convergence to the final three islands in the New World, our final fears have been confirmed," stated Smoker, chomping down on his two cigars. "Big Mom's fleet has been wiped out. I can only guess at who did it."

"He's going for Raftel then?"

Smoker nodded, even though he knew Sengoku couldn't see him doing it. "Based on what was told to me by William Helmont, I believe so. Requesting that you send out a full fleet of ships from the closest Marine base to this area to barricade the area and assist in capturing Victor."

Silence for several seconds, before Sengoku said, "Very well, Rear-Admiral. It will take some time for the fleet to get there. Can you hold off for now?"

"I'm going to pursue Victor," Smoker simply replied. "Once the ships get here, have them barricade off the Convergence Point; no one in or out."

Sengoku sounded a bit flustered. "W-Wait Smoker, going after Victor with only one ship and a small battalion is pointless; you'll only serve to get yourself killed. You need to wait at the Convergence Point and—"

Smoker shut the den-den mushi off.

He looked at his closest subordinate and ordered, "We're moving past the wreckage onto the next island. Let the crew know."

"Yes, sir!" saluted the marine before he went off to complete his task.

Smoker sighed when he heard someone say: "Hey, Smokin'-Man, what's goin' on?"

Rear-Admiral Smoker turned to see Doflamingo and Crocodile's ship coming dangerously close to his own. Chomping down on his cigars a bit, he said back, "I'm not here to waste my time with you."

"Ah," feigned Doflamingo. "We don't like to be ignored, do we Croc?"

Crocodile merely smirked lazily as his cigar smoke drifted into the air. "And here I thought the great Smoker wouldn't let us out of his sights in the name of Justice."

"Well Justice is calling for something higher right now," responded Smoker coolly. "Attacking you right now would only be a waste of resources and damage me before I even find Victor."

"Fufufu, well it's lookin' like our friend Victor is getting quite popular," Doflamingo said to Crocodile.

"Just let him be," advised Crocodile. "Attacking him would also weaken our forces. If he's gonna ignore us, it's best we just ignore him for now."

Doflamingo let out a roaring laugh as he seemed to agree. "Whatever, it doesn't matter to me. A truce sound good, Smokin'-Man?"

"I'd suggest you get out of my sights and stay out of my way before I change my mind," was all Smoker said, as his ship started moving towards Ember Isle.

Crocodile and Doflamingo backed off, and simply followed Smoker's lead and also went to the Ember Isle, where they both patiently waited for their hour log to be up, neither side communicating with the other, and neither knowing that there was another entity on that same island, just on the other side and out of their sight.

A little bit after both sides left, a bicycle chime could be heard coming up on Ember Isle…

— — —

The second to last island in the Grand Line was known as Spectrum Island. It got this name due to its varied and versatile environments. From plains, to forests, to marshes, and to mountains, Spectrum Island seemed to be an ecological wonder rarely seen on the Grand Line. It, however, unlike its predecessor, take only around thirty minutes to log instead of an hour.

Victor and the Corps of Kings (including the captive Big Mom) got off of _Harbinger_ right as they started to log the island in. Looking at the varied landscape, Victor knew it was the perfect place to finish the Straw Hats once and for all. Preparations had to be made, however, before the Straw Hats got there, and Victor set his crew to work almost immediately.

"Hey, I was thinking," Kaede said to Victor as soon as they landed on Spectrum Island's beach. "How exactly do you know that the Straw Hats are gonna show up here?"

"Well we know that they weren't ahead of us, since Leila didn't know who they were," Victor explained as Big Mom spat on the ground in disgust. "And trust me, the Straw Hats are still after us, and they'll eventually land right here, especially after learning about what happened to Big Mom."

Kenji scratched the back of his head in slight confusion and asked, "Well, yeah, but how are you so sure they're even close to us? For all we know they're still stuck back at the Vespian Isles."

Victor smirked and said, "Just call it…a premonition." He remembered his nightmares involving the Straw Hats and shivered slightly, as that cold feeling took grip of him again. "I can't say for sure, but I can feel that they're close, and the Straw Hat's fighting spirit is as strong as ever."

"Great," Vendrix sighed, "here we are, goin' off the 'premonition' of our leader without the slightest bit of evidence. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this isn't gonna work."

Victor dropped down on the sand and folded his arms behind his head in a relaxing motion. "You don't think I haven't thought about that?" he asked nonchalantly, closing his eyes for a second. "Anyways, if the Straw Hats haven't shown up after three hours of waiting on our part, then we'll go. No muss, no fuss, and it would probably mean they're a good deal farther behind than I thought."

"You're really willing to spare three hours when we're so close to Raftel?" asked Aliyyah.

Victor sat up in the sand and said, "I've learned to be patient. Don't worry about it. If they don't show up in three hours, then it's just a measly three hours lost. What's the harm in that?"

The group remained silent. Victor took their silence as consent, as he hopped to his feet and said, "Well, let's not waste any more time. Vendrix, you'll be the eyes for us…"

— — —

The _Thousand Sunny_ arrived on Spectrum Island a little bit more than an hour after Victor's crew did. Luffy could barely contain his excitement at this, even though he knew they had to save Big Mom as well. In the very far distance, Luffy could spot the silhouette of Raftel, although it was nothing substantial.

"To think we're so close," Usopp uttered. "Only one more island until we see the legendary treasure no one else has been able to find."

"First thing's first though," Sanji interceded. "We gotta save Lola's mom. The Vivre Card says she's on this island, right Nami?"

Nami looked at Big Mom's Vivre Card and nodded. "It's pointing right towards the middle of the island; she's here alright…"

They docked the ship on the beach, not knowing that Victor's own _Harbinger_ was not too far away, although it was hidden from their view. Everyone began to get off, but Luffy took the Vivre Card from Nami's hand and said, "You and Robin stay and guard the ship."

"What?" demanded an incredulous Nami. "Why?"

In a surprising burst of insight rarely seen in the captain, Luffy explained, "We don't know if Victor's men are hiding out and waiting to ambush the ship. If that's the case, we need the navigator here and ready to leave if necessary. Robin will stay here to protect you the best she can."

Robin offered a small smirk and simply said, "Aye-Aye, Captain."

Nami sighed and said, "That's stupid, but fine, if that's what you order…"

Luffy nodded and went off with the rest of the crew, setting foot on the beach.

"Don't worry," Robin consoled to Nami. "He's just doing what he thinks is best for everyone, and he realizes that you're too invaluable right now to put in danger."

"Yeah, but he's still an idiot," fumed Nami.

Robin chuckled and said, "Can't argue with that…"

— — —

The full moon hung in the night sky and shone over the Straw Hats as they landed on the island. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the Straw Hats to realize why it was called Spectrum Island. They had just finished trekking through a large forest, and finally came out of it with several scratches and small animal bites.

"Urgh, that's why I hate uncivilized islands," Sanji said, picking up a snake that was going dangerously close to his leg and flinging it back into the foliage of trees. "Always a rampant outgrowth of nature and animals."

"Sorry if it's too delicate to your sensibilities," Zoro chided, sending Sanji into a fit of anger. "Maybe you should have just stayed back to guard the ship."

"I dare you to say that again, Marimo!" Sanji fumed.

"Enough," Franky said, fed up with their attitude. "Let's just follow the Vivre Card and not have any trouble."

"You mean the Vivre Card that just sent us going through those woods 'cause that's where it leads to Big Mom," Usopp said, picking at leaves that were stuck in his hair and flicking them behind him with disgust.

"Hey, going straight is the best way," Luffy smirked, looking back at the Vivre Card again.

"Coming from your sense of direction, it doesn't mean much," sighed Chopper. "Where's the Vivre Card sending us now?"

They entered a large amount of plains, where the Vivre Card informed them to keep going straight, which they happily did. To their right was a mountainous region on the island, and to their left a little further was the marshy area.

On top of a formation of rock overlooking the plains, Vendrix Confreski lay on his belly with a den-den mushi in his hand. He snickered at the sight of the Straw Hats and looked at the den-den mushi.

"Hey, Boss, looks like you were right," he whispered. "Kikiki, the whole gang's right here."

On the other end, he heard Victor say, "Good Vendrix. Now spring the trap when they're in position."

"Roger that," he snickered, beginning to sit up. He looked at the Straw Hats continuing to walk through the endless plains staring at the Vivre Card. "That's right, kids," Vendrix muttered to himself, taking out a small remote with a button on it. "Keep on goin' aimlessly like you ain't got a care in the world. Old Vendrix will take care of ya, oh yes he will, kikiki!"

— — —

"Gah, how long do these plains go on for?" complained Franky as he kept looking back and forth in hopes of it ending soon.

Boa Hancock let out a laugh and retorted, "Of course a man wouldn't have any patience. They end when they end, as simple as that."

"Truer words haven't been spoken," swooned Sanji as his eyes became hearts. "Truly you are a Princess!"

"Shut up swine, you disgust me!" Hancock said, quick as lightning, causing him to go into depression and Zoro to laugh.

Suddenly, Luffy stopped, causing everyone to follow suit abruptly and look at him questioningly. "What's wrong, Luffy?" asked Usopp.

Luffy stared at the Vivre Card blankly and said, "Something doesn't feel right. I don't really know how to explain it…"

"What are you talking about?" asked Sanji curiously. "What exactly doesn't feel ri—"

Sanji was cut off as on both sides of the crew, a large sound went off, followed by a large explosion, bringing everyone down to their knees and jarring them. Then, as soon as the explosion had settled, an ominous amount of white smoke began to surround the crew.

"The hell's going on?" Zoro uttered, as he couldn't see anyone around him.

Vendrix threw aside the remote he used to detonate the bombs and smoke canisters planted on the ground, and immediately leapt into action, hopping off the cliff heading straight for the plains and the crew.

He landed and did a quick roll to recover, but when he did he burst into a full sprint straight towards the entire group. He quickly entered the smoke and was able to sense out Luffy, who was moving in panic, trying to feel for someone close to him.

Knowing what he had to do, Vendrix leapt into the air and was able to tap the top of Luffy's head, causing Luffy to momentarily flinch and close his eyes in pain. In another quick successive move, he swept Luffy's legs and sent him down to the floor with a hard thump. Vendrix made it obvious he was the one who did it as he laughed right at Luffy's face before taking off, leaving the white smoke.

Luffy was immediately on his knees and threw the Vivre Card to the only person he could see—Zoro.

"Keeping following it and free Lola's mom!" he ordered before running after Vendrix.

"Hey, wait!" Zoro started, but saw that Luffy was already gone.

The swordsman quickly followed him out of the smoke and saw that the rest of the crew was starting to leave it too, breathing heavily and looking for anyone else. Unfortunately, Hancock saw Luffy sprinting away from them to chase Vendrix, and she immediately gave chase.

"Wait, Luffy!" she pleaded.

Sanji, who was the closest to Hancock when this happened, saw what she was doing and immediately went to chase after her, yelling, "Hey wait, Hancock! You don't know where you're going!"

Zoro, thinking fast in the situation, ripped off a piece of Big Mom's Vivre Card and yelled to Sanji, "Hey, Love Cook, take some of the Card and follow it to meet back up with us!"

Sanji heard and he turned around as Zoro quickly crumpled it up into a ball and threw it at Sanji, who deftly caught it, gave Zoro the thumbs-up, and went back to chasing after Hancock and Luffy.

By this point, the chaos had reached a fever pitch, and the entire crew was out of the smoke now and saw Luffy, Hancock, and Sanji running away from them. Everyone else looked like they were about to follow, before Zoro called to them.

"Wait! Don't go chasing after them!" he commanded. "Luffy ordered us to go and find Big Mom! Everyone get around me!"

Usopp, Chopper, Franky, and Brook all got close to Zoro, who currently had the Vivre Card clenched between his fist.

"Now let's just be calm right now, and go look for Big Mom," Zoro said, opening his palm to show the remaining Vivre Card after about a third of it was given to Sanji.

It didn't take long for the remaining crew to realize something was wrong. The Vivre Card kept on spinning and pointing on its own, somewhat like a compass needle.

"Uhh, Zoro…" Usopp finally started, "why is the Vivre Card pointing in two different directions?"

* * *

The plan is put into action!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	93. The Straw Hats vs the Corps of Kings

Something's wrong with the Vivre Card... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**93: The Straw Hats vs. the Corps of Kings**

The Vivre Card Zoro held in his hand kept spinning around back and forth, yet it always settled on two distinct directions before moving again. One direction pointed to the mountains, while the other side pointed to the marsh.

Zoro scratched his head at this, before finally saying, "The hell is wrong with this thing? This is the card Luffy gave me, and now it's actin' all strange."

Franky shrugged as he said, "Maybe they split her Vivre Card in half and it's pointin' to both."

"There's no time to figure out what it is," Zoro said quickly. "Every second we waste, Lola's mom is in more and more danger." He noticed that the edges of the Card were burning more and more.

"So what do we do?" questioned Chopper.

Zoro tore the Vivre Card in two, leaving both sides just now pointing in a single direction. "We'll split up," he suggested. "That way we're sure to find her."

"But what about Luffy, Sanji, and Hancock?" asked Brook.

"They can take care of themselves," Zoro replied. "Now, me and Brook will go in one direction, and Usopp, Franky, and Chopper will go the other."

"Wait, who decided on the pairin—" started Usopp.

"JUST GO!" roared Zoro, sending Usopp, Franky, and Chopper grabbing their half of the Vivre Card and running in the opposite direction of Zoro towards the marsh.

Zoro sighed and saw that his Card pointed towards the mountain, so he looked at Brook and said, "Let's go."

Brook nodded and said, "Right behind you; I've got my eyes right on you…Oh wait, I have no eyes, yohohoho!"

— — —

Luffy was going fast, but Vendrix Confreski was going faster.

It was fairly obvious for Luffy to see where Vendrix was going when they were traversing the wide-open plains, but Vendrix quickly dove back into the forested region of the island, where Luffy was forced to follow, making it harder for him to track. Luffy caught a quick look behind him and saw no one was there, before going into the forest to give chase to Vendrix.

"Kikikiki, catch me if you can, Straw Hat!" Luffy heard Vendrix taunt as he moved over fallen trees and vine-covered floors.

"Show yourself!" Luffy demanded.

Luffy got no answer, yet continued to track Vendrix. Eventually, after staggering around a bit (the dark night sky not aiding his vision and directions), he broke through the forest, and appeared on Spectrum Island's coast, the sand of the beach right beneath his feet.

Surprisingly, standing a few feet away from him were Vendrix and Aliyyah. The latter smiled and asked, "Wow, to think you were actually stupid enough to fall into this trap…"

Luffy blinked. "What?"

Vendrix couldn't contain himself, as he burst into a series of childish giggles, throwing a white scrap of paper in the air. "My job was to lure you here, so that we can both kill you together, kikikikiki!"

"Quite an honor, I must say…" added Aliyyah.

With that, she shot out a high-pressured stream of water from her arm that hit Luffy, sending him tumbling down from the edge of the forest to the beach. Surprisingly, Luffy wasn't paying attention when he got it, he was only looking at the ocean, and what was on it.

Off in the not-too-far distance, Luffy could see the ship _Harbinger_ on the coast, and on it he could sense Victor and Tobias (with Big Mom, most likely) standing at the edge, watching as Luffy was cornered by Vendrix and Aliyyah; Luffy could also feel that Victor had an incurable smile on his face.

This angered Luffy to the nth degree, as he was immediately on his feet and yelled at the top of his lungs, _"VICTOR!"_

This caused Vendrix and Aliyyah to look at the ocean and see what he was talking about, and this came off as a surprise to both of them.

"So that man went ahead without us…" Aliyyah muttered. "…that wasn't a part of the deal."

Vendrix immediately dropped his giggling when he saw the reality that Victor and Tobias had left them on Spectrum Island to deal with the Straw Hats while he went to One Piece.

Vendrix looked at the scrap of paper in his hand and surprisingly only muttered, "Looks like they took Big Mom with 'em…"

He was about to say something, however, when he suddenly saw two ships block his vision of _Harbinger_.

"Wonder who the fuck that—" Vendrix started, before he saw two figures propel out of the ships and almost immediately landed on the beach, hitting both Vendrix and Aliyyah as they did it, sending Vendrix sprawling to the floor and Aliyyah to reform her body with water.

Both Corps of Kings members turned to see none other than Sir Crocodile and White Chase Smoker, each smoking their trademark cigars and had a look on their face that made them look pissed beyond all belief.

"And here I thought these were two people of importance," Crocodile fumed. "Guess my eyesight's not as good as I once thought."

"Oh they're major players, alright," Smoker stated. "Vendrix Confreski the Disillusioned and Aliyyah the Typhoon, each having a bounty of 230 million and 215 million respectively; they're both in the top four of the Corps of King's most powerful members, only outranked by Tobias the Dreamer and Victor himself."

Crocodile took a lazy puff on his cigar before saying, "Well, I guess that's alright then."

Aliyyah noticed that Luffy was already sprinting away from all of them down the beach, continually staring at _Harbinger_ in the distance.

"Can't let him get away!" she said, aiming her arm at his back. "Typhoon!"

Another jet stream of water flew out of her arm and flew right towards Luffy's back, but fortunately for the Straw Hat Captain, Sir Crocodile got between the two and held out his palm, taking away all the water within an instant. Smoker also reacted, hitting her straight in her stomach with his jutte, causing her to wince in pain.

"And here I thought you'd always want to capture Straw Hat," Crocodile stated to Smoker.

"I got my orders," responded Smoker, "and he's less important than these two right in front of us. What about you, Crocodile, don't you have a grudge against him for what happened at Alabasta?"

Crocodile grinned wolfishly as he remembered Impel Down and the Whitebeard War. "That's the past," he finally said. "Once you look beyond that, he's not too bad…"

Vendrix didn't want to take anymore as he pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Crocodile's head. Before he could pull the trigger, however, his outstretched arm got a large amount of slashes across it, causing him to grunt in pain and drop the weapon as blood spurted out of his arm.

"Now that's not very nice," he heard a voice say.

He turned to see that Donquixote Doflamingo was standing there, with a very sizeable grin on his face. Vendrix matched his smile and said, "Well, if it isn't the famous Shichibukai himself. Oh wait, sorry, you're not a Shichibukai anymore; my boss made sure of that!"

Doflamingo didn't lose his smile as he wretched his thumb behind him, pointing to the forest. "That's it, Shaggy-Man, you're mine. Let's fight away from the others though, makes it more intimate, don't you think?"

Vendrix let out a chuckle and nodded, saying, "It sure does."

"Vendrix, what about Straw Hat?" asked Aliyyah.

"Ah, fuck Victor," was Vendrix's curt reply. "He's the one who chose to abandon us, so he can suffer the consequences, for all I care. Well then Flamingo, show me the way."

With that, both Vendrix and Doflamingo disappeared from the beach into the forest to carry out their battle, leaving Crocodile and Smoker to deal with Aliyyah.

"Guess I'll have to settle for you," Crocodile said. "You seem like third-rate goods, though…"

"Hey, Crocodile," Smoker chimed in, "I have orders to bring all of the Corps of Kings to justice, so you just stay out of my way for this one."

Crocodile glared at Smoker and said, "Yeah right. I got my reasons for seeking out this organization myself!"

Aliyyah couldn't help but sigh internally as her two enemies were too busy arguing with each other, but it was quickly gone as she cocked her fist back and said, "You'll regret messing with me! Typhoon!"

— — —

"Ugh, Zoro, if I'm afraid that if I trip and fall I'll scrape off all the skin on my body," Brook said to his companion as they both were scaling the mountainous rocky region the Vivre Card pointed to. "Oh wait, I have no skin, yohohoho!"

"Shut up!" Zoro snarled down to him as he grabbed another rock and continued climbing. "If you're too focused on your jokes, you'll lose your footing and fall all the way down!"

"Don't worry about me Zoro, I have nimble fingers…" Brook retorted. "Oh wait, my fingers are just bones, yohohoho!"

Zoro sighed as he reached up and felt a surprisingly flat part of the mountain. He heaved himself up and found that he was now standing on a rocky plateau. "Hey Brook!" Zoro called down to his shipmate. "There's flat ground here, perfect for—"

He looked away from Brook and was cut off when he saw Benjamin McAllister standing there with a stony look on his face, his arms crossed, and of course, his nodachi at his side.

"You…" Zoro muttered, as Benjamin seemed to acknowledge him with a brief hand gesture.

"I'm almost there Zoro, I can feel it," Brook said, as he gripped the flat surface and hauled himself up. "Made it! Now we can have some real footing when…"

He looked and saw Zoro staring Benjamin down. Finally, the Straw Hat swordsman asked, "How'd you know we would be here?"

Benjamin reached into his pocket and pulled out a white piece of paper, throwing it to the floor. Zoro inspected it and saw that it pointed to his own Vivre Card and vice-versa. "That's how, partner," Benjamin smirked. "Anymore questions?"

"Just one," Zoro said with a large grin. "Are you gonna complain when I beat you once and for all?" He unsheathed one of his swords.

Benjamin seemed to shake his head in pity before saying, "No, I'm afraid that won't happen, partner. Feel free to try though."

"Zoro…" started Brook.

Roronoa Zoro threw his arm in front of the skeleton to stop him from speaking. "Don't worry about it, Brook. I'll take care of this one easy…"

Benjamin unsheathed his nodachi.

— — —

Kaede pulled his foot up from the swampy soft land with disgust before looking at his brother Kenji and asking, "Why the hell are we the ones to hang out in the marsh?"

Kenji merely shrugged and said, "That's where we were told to go, so we went here."

"Victor must be fucking mocking us," Kaede said. "He thinks a god damned swamp is the perfect place for us to hang out."

"Try not to think about it too much," advised Kenji, who didn't seem bothered at all.

Kaede didn't take his brother's advice and let out a massive fearsome growl. "I'm sick of waiting! All we ever do is wait and plan and do nothing! I'm hungry for some action!"

"Keep it down," sighed Kenji. Both he and Kaede's attention were caught when they heard rustling and talking not too far away. Kenji smirked lazily and added, "You'll scare away the prey."

Usopp, Chopper, and Franky broke through the foliage of the marsh, each looking disgusted as they entered the wide, swampy area Kenji and Kaede were occupying.

"Why would they hide Lola's mom all the way out here?" asked Usopp with a disgusted look on his face. He looked up but continued to say, "It's almost like they…oh!"

"Welcome," smirked Kaede, bearing his sharp teeth.

Kenji scratched the back of his head and said, "Now's your chance to get the action you wanted. You ready, brother?"

Kaede cracked his knuckles and said, "Yeah, let's do it Kenji!"

"Alright, Kaede."

"Shit, get ready to fight!" Franky said, striking up a fighting stance.

With that, both Kenji and Kaede rushed towards the three Straw Hats.

— — —

A little bit after Luffy disappeared into the forest to chase Vendrix, Boa Hancock felt like she had to stop and catch her breath. Still left on the plains, she put her hands to her legs and kneeled over, panting heavily and trying to regain her breath. She had no idea Luffy could run so fast when he wanted too, and now she's lost him! She had to regain her breath quickly so she can—

"Hey, Hancock, wait up!" she heard a familiar voice say, causing a vein to appear on her forehead.

Sanji caught up to her and stopped right where she was. Apparently he wasn't out of breath, although his breathing was a bit ragged. "Get out of my sight!" she said almost immediately. "A man like you has no right to be talking to me like I'm your equal!"

She was looking so far down at Sanji she was looking up.

Sanji lit a cigarette and said, "Don't be like that. After all, I came all this way just to see you!" His eyes turned into hearts.

Hancock didn't want to speak with him anymore, as she regained her posture and began to chase after Luffy yet again, causing Sanji to sigh and follow. Before Hancock could even get a running start, Sanji sensed something and pushed Hancock out of the way, yelling, "Watch out!"

As soon as he did that, a fist slugged Sanji right in his cheek, sending him sprawling to the floor with a grunt. Hancock looked immediately and saw the assailant was Daron Arkan, looking at Sanji and scratching his head.

"Huh…" he said quietly. "I wasn't aimin' for you, but I guess that'll do."

Sanji was back on his feet again and recognized Daron. "You're with Victor aren't you? How the hell did you know where to find us?"

"Guerilla warfare's my thing," Daron replied. "As for how I found you, I'd say it was this handy little thing."

He held out his hand to show a white piece of paper.

"A Vivre Card?" Sanji asked. "But you don't have a Vivre Card of us."

"Didn't have to," Daron said back. "The Vivre Card you and I are holding was dreamed up by Tobias; they lead me to you, and vice-versa. Granted I'm not quite sure how it works, but if Tobias dreamed it, it must have some kind of secret to it. The Vivre Card you originally had was stolen and swapped out by Vendrix when he launched his little 'attack' on you. It was just pure luck though that I ended up with you."

"So it was all a setup…" Sanji muttered.

Daron yawned and asked, "What did you expect? We did lure you out here, after all. To think anything else would just be stupid."

Hancock had enough and decided to leave the two to themselves, as she went to go after Luffy. Daron caught on quick, though, and was in front of her almost immediately.

"Afraid I can't let that happen," Daron said. "My orders were to defeat the Straw Hats my Vivre Card led me to, so that's what I'm gonna do."

Both Sanji and Hancock sighed, as Sanji lit himself a new cigarette to replace the one he lost when Daron sucker-punched him.

— — —

"Stupid Luffy, stupid Zoro, stupid Usopp and Sanji and Chopper and Franky," Nami fumed. "Leaving me on the ship like this is just boring. It's like they think I can't take care of myself!"

"You forgot Brook," Robin added with a sly smile.

"And stupid Brook!" stated Nami with the anger still in her face.

"Don't worry about it, Nami," Robin said, trying to cajole the navigator. "I'm sure something interesting will happen soon enough."

As if on queue, they heard someone yell, _"NAMI! ROBIN!"_

Both women immediately looked over the edge of the _Thousand Sunny_, straining their eyes in the dark, and saw Monkey D. Luffy sprinting towards them. He simply followed the beach until he found his own ship.

_"GET THE SHIP READY TO MOVE!"_ he yelled, confusing the two.

"We'd best do it," Robin said to Nami. "Captain's orders."

They both worked on getting the _Thousand Sunny_ ready to set sail, and not too long after, Luffy came crashing on the deck of the ship, lying on his back and breathing heavily.

"What's going on?" Nami immediately asked.

Luffy was breathless, but he managed to choke out, "Explain in a second…get ship moving…"

Both women managed to get the _Thousand Sunny_ sailing away from Spectrum Island into the direction which they assumed was towards Raftel.

"Good thing our log time was up," Nami commented before looking to Luffy. "What's going on? Where's everyone else?"

Luffy had caught his breath now and stood up, adjusting his straw hat. "I saw Victor sailing towards Raftel, so we're chasing after him," Luffy finally said.

"What?" asked an incredulous Nami. "We're just leaving everyone else back on the island?"

Luffy nodded. "I trust them and I know they can handle themselves. What's important is to not let Victor get away!"

"The Captain has a point," Robin said. "The rest of the crew will be fine."

Nami sighed as she went to navigate the ship to make sure it was going on the right course to the final island on the Grand Line, Raftel.

Luffy was giving Victor the final chase in the night.

* * *

The final conflict has begun!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	94. One More Time 'Round the Dance Floor

Hand-to-hand combat! Enjoy!

**Holiday travel screwed up the schedule, hence why this chapter is a day late.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**94: One More Time 'Round the Dance Floor**

"I really wish you would get out of the way…" Boa Hancock said to Daron Arkan while putting on her cutest face. "You're really frightening me…"

"Oooh, you heard her bandana-head!" Sanji gushed. "Let the lady out of the way!"

Daron simply stood there with a stoic (and slightly bored) look on his face. He let out a yawn, scratched the back of his head, and said, "Sorry, no can do…"

_"Damn, he's immune to my charm…"_ Hancock thought angrily.

Sanji, however, wouldn't let this go. "What the hell's wrong with you? How can you resist what a woman asks? Unless…oh, you're like that, aren't you?"

Sanji's taunt didn't work as Daron cracked his neck and only said, "If that's what you like to think…"

_"Damn, he's immune to my taunts…" _Sanji thought angrily.

This continued to agitate Sanji, and thinking of nothing else, he rushed straight towards him and threw a powerful kick straight towards his face. Daron reacted quickly and dropped his head to the side and brought up a powerful right hook straight into Sanji's exposed ribcage, causing him to grunt and get thrown to the floor.

Boa Hancock took this opportunity to try and escape to find Luffy, but Daron saw through it and appeared right in front of her, his arms outstretched. "Sorry…" he said to her, returning to his listless and lazy tone. "I can't let you leave."

"I wasn't expecting you to!" Hancock declared, doing a quick handstand and throwing a kick towards Daron's chest.

Daron was able to side-step the strike and grab her leg, looking at her with a small smirk. "You know, back where I come from, we never underestimated women; to do so would surely mean death."

Hancock returned his smile and replied, "Well it looks like I can't go easy on you then!"

Daron raised his fist to strike and said, "And I as w—"

He was cut off when Sanji dealt him a resounding kick to the side of his head, sending him sprawling to the ground and rolling a few times before stopping. Sanji looked at Hancock and held his hand out to help her up.

"I think the best way of getting to Luffy would be to beat this guy first," he said with a smile. "So what do ya say we work together again?"

Hancock clasped his hand and got up. "For the third and final time."

Sanji grinned and lit a new cigarette. "They say third time's the cha—UGH!"

Daron was already back on his feet and didn't waste any time, tackling Sanji's side and bringing them both to the ground. Daron turned out on top and was able to deal Sanji a right hook to his face before Hancock threw a kick to Daron's exposed neck, sending him to the ground yet again.

This time, Hancock helped him up and Sanji brushed some dust off of his suit. "Thanks."

Hancock nodded as they both looked towards where Daron fell, and saw him already recovered and standing up again. "We both dealt him full-forced kicks," Hancock observed. "Yet he takes them and gets up like they were nothing."

Daron cracked his neck yet again as a bit of blood came out of his mouth, but he looked fine. "Good observation," he finally said, looking at the two. "I've eaten the Mend-Mend Fruit. It allows my body to take any attack and repair itself almost instantly."

"Well that's gonna be a real problem," Sanji said, scratching the back of his head. He looked at Hancock. "What do ya wanna do, beautiful?"

Hancock threw a quick kick to Sanji's stomach, winding him for a second before saying, "Just because I'm teaming up with you again doesn't mean we're friends, or that you can call me that."

"Dully noted…" Sanji said, gripping his stomach and smiling at her.

Daron didn't feel like waiting any longer, as he rushed towards Hancock again, cocking his fist back with a smile on his face. Sanji, however, appeared between the two and threw a kick towards Daron's exposed stomach, saying, "Flanchet!"

Daron gripped his stomach and also grabbed hold of Sanji's leg. With a grin, he used his superior body mass to hurl Sanji towards the floor. When Sanji landed with a grunt, Daron leapt into the air and landed on Sanji's chest, throwing a quick jab to his upper-body, causing Sanji to grunt and cough out a small amount of blood.

"Love-Love Beam!" Hancock declared, sending a heart-shaped beam straight towards Daron's exposed back.

Surprisingly, nothing happened, as Daron simply looked at Hancock with a confused look on his face. "Did you just do something?" he asked listlessly.

"Impossible," Hancock said, clearly a bit shaken. "You mean you have absolutely no lustful thoughts in your mind?"

Daron shrugged and said, "Why would I have those? I'm in the middle of a battle right now…"

"Gah, you really are playing for the other team, aren't you!" Sanji declared, throwing up his leg and kneeing Daron in his back, causing him to grunt and fall off of Sanji, letting the chef stand yet again.

"Be careful not to hit me with that beam," Sanji said, when he trotted back to Hancock. "If you do, I'll be out of the fight for good!"

"Keep up your attitude and I might," Hancock said indifferently, returning to her normal and cool state.

Daron rose again and rubbed his back thoughtfully. He looked at the two and said, "That's a sign of weakness, Mr. Suit."

"What did you say?"

Daron grinned softly and explained. "When in battle, one's mind should not be anywhere else. If it is and you stray away from your duty for even a second, either you die, or one of your comrades dies—I know that all too well. Because of that, I have no interest in anything but battle right now."

"We need to work together if we want to take him down," Sanji whispered to Hancock. "Can you serve as a distraction while I finish him?"

Hancock nodded. "Don't take too long, or it'll turn out really bad."

With that, Hancock kissed out a small heart and put it on the tip of her index finger. She aimed it straight at Daron and fired, yelling, "Pistol Kiss!"

The heart traveled deceptively fast and struck the surprised Daron in his shoulder, causing him to grab it and grunt in pain. Hancock took that opportunity to rush towards Daron. When she was close enough, she threw a kick straight to his chest, which landed and caused him to take a step back.

Not letting up, she did a quick handstand and brought her foot down on his unprotected shoulder. Daron let out a small grunt of pain as he was able to grab her now outstretched leg and use his strength to flip her into the air, causing her to spin several times before landing on the ground with a thud.

Daron didn't quit as he brought his foot slamming down on her exposed stomach, causing her to scream in pain and cough up a fair amount of blood. "Sorry to do this, but the winner has to take every advantage he can," Daron simply said, flipping her over and bringing his foot back up again. "Don't worry, this next one with snap your spine instantly and painlessly."

"Hancock, move!" he heard Sanji yell.

Daron looked up and saw Sanji high in the air, his right leg outstretched. Hancock quickly rolled away from Daron while he was distracted, while Sanji started flipping over rapidly to gain speed, his leg still outstretched. When he gained enough momentum, he flew down straight towards the unmoving Daron and brought his heel crashing down on the top of Daron's head, causing him to go limp and drop to the floor with a crash.

"Concasser Crush," Sanji said, landing on the ground and then running towards Hancock to see if she was alright.

Sanji helped her up and asked, "Are you okay?"

Hancock nodded and said, "I'm fine, don't worry about me. Instead, focus on the enemy."

Sanji smiled sheepishly, saying, "Don't worry about him. If he's still conscious after that, then he's really a…"

Sanji trailed off as he looked and saw that Daron was standing yet again, his hand held to his head where he got hit; blood was streaming down the entire right side of his face due to the strength of the blow.

"You know," Daron said to the two, "just because my body can repair any damage done to it, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt when I get hit…"

"Shit, it didn't look like it even phased him…" Sanji said.

Daron overheard what he said and replied, "Oh, it certainly phased me. My head's throbbing like crazy right now, and my vision's bloodshot. Within a few minutes time, however, all those nasty side-effects will go away and I'll be healed again. For now, however, you can consider me phased."

Sanji left Hancock and started sprinting towards Daron, ready to strike him again. "Then I'll just have to finish you before your body can heal itself! Take this, Tendon Tenderizer!"

In a series of lightning-quick moves, Daron avoided Sanji's kick to his chest, struck him once in his exposed kidney, and was able to sneak up behind the jarred Sanji and get him in a headlock, attempting to choke him.

"You have no respect for those who do battle," Daron said in a clearly angry tone. "For that, you must pay the price with your life!"

"He's gonna strangle you!" Hancock said, rushing towards the two.

"No…nothing so simple…" Sanji breathed to her in pain. "He's trying to—UGH!—break my neck…A little help would be…appreciated!"

Hancock did a flying kick in the air and managed to hit Daron right in his forehead, causing him to let go of Sanji, who collapsed on the floor and gripped his throat, trying to regain his breath.

Daron landed to the ground, but quickly recovered and rolled back up, rushing straight towards the unsuspecting Hancock. He launched his fist at her, but Sanji was able to respond, throwing a kick towards his arm and knocking it out of its course. "Slice Shot!" he said triumphantly.

His triumph was quickly cut off, however, when Daron simply used other fist to strike Sanji right in his stomach. The chef doubled over, gripping his stomach, and Daron brought a hard elbow down on his back, bringing Sanji to his knees. As a finisher, Daron brought his knee to collide straight with the side of Sanji's head, sending him flying away from Hancock and Daron with a large amount of blood flowing from him.

Daron was about to move towards Hancock, but he suddenly felt himself freeze up. Hancock used this to strike him right in chest. Before Daron could even blink, Hancock dropped to the floor and swept his legs, sending him to the ground with a hard thud.

Hancock stomped on Daron's chest and looked at him with glee on her face. "If your devil fruit heals all your wounds, then the only option is to suppress your devil fruit altogether."

"A Haki user, eh?" grunted Daron.

"That's right," grinned Hancock.

Daron didn't seem bothered as he quickly knocked aside her leg planted on his chest, causing her to lose her balance. Before she could land on anything, she fell on Daron's outstretched leg. With a grin, Daron kicked her away from him, sending her to land on her back a few feet away.

Daron stood up as he felt his power flowing back into him. "I've battled many Haki users in my day, and they all think they got me beat when they use it," the Marauder said. "What they _don't_ realize, though, is that they can't use Haki forever, and as soon as it's gone, my powers come right back like nothing happened at all."

Hancock stood up and sent another powerful burst of Haki towards Daron. This time, however, he didn't freeze up, but in fact rushed straight towards her while letting out a massive battle roar. Hancock didn't expect this and was barely able to move her head before it collided with Daron's outstretched fist. It did, however, nick her cheek as a cut came from it, sending blood going down her cheek.

Hancock responded by kneeing Daron in his stomach and then throwing a quick kick to the side of his head, sending him to the ground yet again. She started to back away as Daron started to stand up, laughing slightly at this.

"I've trained myself to not freeze up when Haki hits me," he said with a laugh—the first real happy emotion he's shown. "So even though it hinders my Mend-Mend powers, it doesn't stop me in any other way!"

Hancock truly felt hopeless at this point, as she couldn't even find the strength to move as Daron inched towards her. When he was close enough to strike, he brought his fist back, his listless tone coming back, and said, "For what it's worth, it's been fun."

"Côtelette!"

Daron felt a sharp pain in his exposed ribs and it carried enough power to send him flying sideways and away from Hancock with a roar of pain. Hancock turned to see Sanji standing there on a single hand. He quickly got back on his feet and Hancock saw a large amount of blood covering his face.

Despite this, he smiled. "Looks like I got here just in time."

Hancock couldn't help but smile and nod. "You sure did…"

"You're real persistent, I'll give ya that."

They both turned to see Daron, once again back on his feet. Internally, both Sanji and Hancock felt a growing sense of anger and annoyance at his ability to take their attacks and keep on going.

"Listen, I need your help again," Sanji said to Hancock. "Just give me a little time to prepare."

"That didn't work last time," Hancock said impatiently. "What makes you think that—"

Sanji didn't pay attention to her anymore as he lifted his right leg, and it began to turn red. With a voice of determination, he said, "Diable Jambe!"

* * *

The fight's getting even fiercer!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	95. Latent his Lights Out

The fighting between Sanji, Hancock, and Daron intensifies! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**95: Latent His Lights Out**

Daron Arkan was beginning to feel the effects of a prolonged battle.

True, the Mend-Mend Fruit was a fantastic passive devil fruit ability that made him nearly invincible in prolonged bouts of fighting, but even its power had drawbacks. Its major weakness was the toll it takes if its powers are constantly employed, tiring Daron out. It was also apparent that the more severe the injury he sustained, the longer it took for his body to heal.

Despite these effects, Daron has counteracted them somewhat by training constantly to increase his stamina and overall usage of the fruit, and current he wasn't doing too badly, but what bothered him was that his opponents are incredibly strong and have lasted much longer than he expected.

So when he saw Sanji's right leg turn red, he began to feel concern.

"Diable Jambe!" he heard Sanji yell, prompting Daron to run towards him with the intent on finishing him off.

"I don't know what you're planning, but I'm sure as hell not gonna wait around to find out!" he yelled, leaping into the air and aiming a kick at the vulnerable Sanji.

"I won't let you do that!"

Daron's kick was thrown off course when Boa Hancock kicked his own leg and sent him barely missing Sanji's head. Daron quickly landed and growled, running towards Sanji yet again, yet by this time, he was ready.

Opening his eyes quickly, Sanji threw his right leg straight towards the side of Daron's head. Thinking fast, Daron brought up his left arm to block it, yet the power of Sanji's attack still sent him flying.

_"What the hell's up with this power increase?"_ he thought to himself when he landed on the ground with a grunt, grabbing his wounded left arm.

He didn't have time to process the information, however, as Sanji was already on him, leaping into the air and aiming for Daron's chest. "Mouton Mallet!" he roared.

Daron once again threw up both his arms to guard, but the power of his kick reverberated throughout his body, causing him to roar in pain as he was once again forced back several feet away from Sanji.

_"This guy…fuck!"_ was all Daron could think of when he was hit.

As soon as Daron landed, the fire on Sanji's leg disappeared and he quickly kneeled down, gripping his leg in pain. Hancock was quickly at his side, asking, "What the hell was that?"

Sanji quickly got to his feet and began to experimentally move his leg around. "It's just a technique I use," he simply answered. "Don't worry about it. Just focus on our enemy, 'cause I know that wasn't enough to take him out."

Daron, however, remained on the ground, thinking of what just happened to him. _"He adds extra heat to his leg, almost as if he's setting it on fire. Yet the power of his kick is greatly multiplied…I'll have to take him out first."_

The Marauder then hopped to his feet and cracked his knuckles, looking at Sanji with determination in his eyes. His wounds were healing, but slower than he would like. Despite this, he looked at Sanji and smirked.

"I guess I underestimated you. It's clear you've been in several life-and-death battles before and developed several techniques. Well, I suppose it's time I be serious with you and show you my hidden hand as well."

Sanji couldn't help but scoff at him and said, "Quit bluffing! You've been serious this entire time, and now you're saying you have a secret technique?"

"It's no bluff, I assure you," Daron replied. "I don't enjoy using these techniques because they rapidly drain my body of energy, and that's one thing I need to conserve. However, you've forced my hand, and I'll have to finish you off now."

Sanji lit a new cigarette and whispered behind him to Hancock, "Be ready for anything. I'm gonna go in first, and you follow up to finish him; we're ending this now."

Daron put both of his hands on his legs and said, "You know, we humans have a lot more stamina and energy than we give ourselves credit for. We have so much, in fact, that if we transfer all of it into one area of our body, well, their strength and power would be amplified to the nth degree."

Without another word, Daron exploded towards the two, his speed being many more times faster than before. So fast, in fact, that Sanji and Hancock had a hard time keeping up with him.

"If all your energy is transferred to your legs, for example," Daron roared as he drew closer to them, "then your running speed would reach to unearthly levels. And what do you suppose would happen if you put said energy all into your arms?"

He held out his right arm when he was not but a few feet away from the two. Sanji realized the danger and pushed Hancock out of the way. "Shit, look ou—"

It was already too late, as Sanji saw the muscles in Daron's right arm bulge to a massive size as he smashed it straight into his neck in a clothesline, sending Sanji dropping to the floor while coughing out blood.

"Latent Axe Strike!"

"Sanji!" Hancock said in a concerned voice, as she saw him drop like a sack of stones.

Daron, however, already disappeared in an explosive manner, even as Sanji began to stand up, gripping his throat in pain. He looked at Hancock and said, "Stay away from me, he looks like he means business and is only aiming for me. If you get away, you should be safe and can counterattack when he's open."

"Don't be stupid!" she said angrily. "If you keep getting hit, you'll die!"

Sanji smirked at her and said, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. However, if I let you get hurt anymore than you have, then how could I call myself a man?"

Before Hancock could respond, Daron was right in front of Sanji, throwing a powerful kick straight to his chest, sending him flying back in pain. "Latent Spear Strike!" Daron roared as Sanji hit the ground.

Hancock reacted quickly and threw a quick kick towards Daron, but he only looked at her and threw his arm up for a defense, stopping her kick dead in its tracks.

"How?" she demanded. "Even if you could block it, there's no way you could feel no repercussions from it!"

"Energy is transferred to strengthen the muscles," Daron explained. "And if enough is placed in one area, then it could block even the strongest attack without any lasting damage. Now get out of my sight; Latent Hammer Strike!"

He threw a massive punch straight towards Hancock's chest, causing her to grip it in pain, spit out a large amount of blood, and send her flying to the ground in a heap. Daron looked back to see Sanji standing up with both of his legs on fire. Before Daron could do anything, Sanji leapt high into the air.

Smiling, Daron squatted towards the ground and leapt up to match Sanji's height. "Latent Spring Strike!"

When both were close enough, they both shot out their legs, both striking each other dead-on.

"Premier Haché!"

"Latent Spear Strike!"

Sanji hit Daron in the side of his head, and Daron was able to hit Sanji straight into his chest. The power from both of their attacks sent them to the ground, yet they both got up almost immediately and rushed at each other again, exchanging blows in a brutal brawl.

Sanji leapt into the air and threw a large barrage of kicks, yelling, "Frit Assorti!"

Daron took several to the chest, but was able to grab Sanji's legs and pull him close enough to elbow him straight in his forehead, yelling, "Latent Blast Strike!"

Sanji's eyes turned white for several seconds, as blood sprayed out of his forehead and he flew towards the ground in a heap. Before Daron could deliver the final strike, Hancock leapt and kicked him straight in his side, causing him to grip it in pain and drop to the floor. Without having time to counterattack, Hancock continued her attacks by throwing another kick straight into Daron's face, sending him to straight to the ground as well.

Hancock looked to see that Sanji was in pain, gripping both of his legs which looked like they were beginning to crack. She helped him up and said, "Take it easy now, you've sustained too much damage."

Sanji only offered a weak smile and replied, "It's nice to see that you care about my wellbeing."

Hancock, finding no answer, saved face by simply looking away with a quick "Hmph!"

From where Daron lay, however, they heard him laugh. It started small at first, but then grew to uproarious laughter. He slowly stood up, still not looking hindered at all, although he was covered in blood and was breathing heavy.

"I could tell by the power of your last few kicks that you're both spent," he said, still chuckling. "So much so that I don't even need to expend my energy in such a manner anymore."

_"Although in truth,"_ Daron thought to himself as he said that, _"if I spend anymore energy recklessly like that, I'll collapse from exhaustion and my wounds won't heal!"_

With the help of Hancock, Sanji got to his feet and looked at Daron. "Why the hell are you even following Victor anyways?" he asked, hoping he could stall for time. "You don't seem like the type to take orders from him."

Daron didn't fall for it as he just said, "I don't have to explain myself to the likes of you. You're both finished and you know it, so just give up peacefully and let me end you with a shred of dignity!"

Sanji simply smiled and said, "Sorry, we're pirates; we don't have dignity to begin with!"

"Have it your way…"

Daron then rushed straight towards them, cocking back a fist and letting out a roar, knowing he would finish them with his next strike. When Daron was within striking distance, Sanji threw himself in front of Hancock, holding out his arms in an attempt to shield her from the attack.

_"They both make me sick,"_ Daron thought while preparing to throw his punch. _"They don't know the pain of losing anyone they care about. But I'll show them. I'll show them the true cost of battle and war, and why they should never make that mistake again…"_

— — —

_Mononakre__ Island  
10 years ago/1512 AOS  
_

_Lieutenant Billy Stone walked through the jungle terrain with his troupe with a grimace on his face. They'd been patrolling for hours now, looking for any sign of human life or encampments, yet found nothing. For the past three years he'd been stationed there, and every patrol turned out the same; they never found any signs of the guerilla fighters, nor any signs of their camps._

_Mononakre Island is best described as a jungle island on the Grand Line, similar to Little Garden, yet without the prehistoric dinosaurs. That doesn't mean, however, that there's a lack of ferocious wildlife, as Lieutenant Billy Stone knew well about. In his three years of tenure here, he'd seen it all, animals attacking their camps and killing his men, and he and his men getting revenge on the attacking animals._

_Lieutenant Billy Stone had seen it all, save for where the guerilla fighters secret base. Ever since the World Government had declared this property theirs five years ago and attempted to move in, those guerilla fighters kept showing up out of nowhere, attacking and sabotaging their work._

_After losing so much life to the "Freedom Fighters" as they called themselves, the World Government shipped in military force, and Lieutenant Billy Stone showed up three years ago, being recruited at Fort Almeda under the work of Rudolph Fang, the Captain of the Guard. He was a simple foot soldier then, but through three years of hard work, Billy Stone moved up to the rank of lieutenant, becoming an officer and having some pull at the fort._

_It seemed that being a lieutenant wasn't enough, however, to stop Billy Stone from going on regular patrols. The only difference was that he now commanded his ten or so soldiers, instead of being commanded himself. He was always tasked with the same thing—seek out the freedom fighter's secret hideout and find any trace of them you can._

_Despite the clear instructions, Lieutenant Billy Stone never came up with anything. After three years of being stationed on Mononakre Island, the Freedom Fighters were like ghosts, attacking and then disappearing, never leaving anything except bodies._

_After pushing through several vines and traversing through the thick congregation of trees, Lieutenant Billy Stone let out a sigh and stopped, his men following suit._

_"Let's rest for a while," he ordered. "We'll do one more quick preliminary search after that, and then we'll head back to base."_

_His men agreed and they all relaxed at the base of a rather large tree. Lieutenant Billy Stone set down his rifle and put his head against the tree, letting out a sigh. Oh how he wished he could get off of this island and be rid of regular patrol duties. Then he could rise in the ranks once again and show that bastard Rudolph Fang that he wasn't just a—_

_Lieutenant Billy Stone heard a scream._

_Everyone immediately looked in the direction of the scream and saw what they all had feared. One of the soldiers on the patrol had a rope put around his neck from above, and was indiscriminately yanked upwards, instantly breaking his neck and only allowing him one quick scream._

_Lieutenant Billy Stone immediately grabbed his rifle and roared, "Be on your guard! The Freedom Fighters are around here!"_

_As soon as he said that, camouflaged men seemed to fall from the sky and land on several soldiers. They only had a chance to let out one grunt before the guerilla warrior pulled out a combat knife and ended their life. While that happened, a large amount of Freedom Fighters seemed to pop up out of nowhere, all quickly tackling the unsuspecting soldiers to the ground._

_Lieutenant Billy Stone looked around in with a small amount of panic as he was seeing his patrol get massacred right in front of him. He aimed his rifle at one of them, yet missed when he fired the shot. The fighter whom he missed noticed this and rushed straight towards Lieutenant Billy Stone, slamming his body right into his chest and sending him to the floor, dropping his rifle in pain._

_The fighter smirked and began to walk away. Lieutenant Billy Stone wasn't done, however, as he stood up and pulled out his pistol, aiming it at the fighter's back. Before he could pull the trigger though, he felt a sharp pain in the side of his neck._

_Behind him, another Freedom Fighter had shoved a knife straight through the side of Lieutenant Billy Stone's neck, causing him to shoot on reflex, hitting nothing, and fall to the ground, his life ended._

_The fighter whom the shot was aimed at quickly looked to see Lieutenant Billy Stone's body and the offending fighter standing right over him, cleaning off his combat knife and looking at the other with disappointment._

_"What did I always say about turning your back on a live opponent, Ritz?" he asked the fighter._

_The man named Ritz averted his gaze and said, "You never turn your back on a live opponent."_

_The fighter smiled and said, "There, was that so hard? Next time, you won't be so lucky."_

_Ritz still didn't look at him, trying to hide the shame in his eyes and said, "Sorry Commander Arkan."_

_Daron Arkan sighed and smiled, sheathing his knife and walking towards Ritz, patting him on the head. "It's alright. Just don't do it again."_

_Ritz looked up and smiled at Daron, who happily returned the favor._

* * *

His past as a freedom fighter...

**Most likely updating on Monday, since I am busy over the weekend.**

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	96. The Marauder

Into Daron's past... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**96: The Marauder**

_"Three shipments of gunpowder, two crates of rations and water, and a hundred packs of cigarettes," recited a Freedom Fighter named Gangor to Daron Arkan. "Not a bad haul, eh chief?"_

_Daron inspected a carton from the "hundred packs of cigarettes" and threw it behind himself with disgust. "Looks like the World Government will pay no expense to make sure their soldiers get their fix. Those soldiers like to fight in style, no doubt, eh Gangor?"_

_Gangor smiled and nodded. With a laugh, he added, "Unfortunately for the troops at Fort Almeda, that convoy will never be able to deliver those supplies; we made sure of that."_

_Daron stood up and patted Gangor on the shoulder. "Good job, my friend. While you were attacking that convoy, me and Ritz were taking out another patrol. Little by little we're chiseling away at the World Government's strength on this island; it's only a matter of time before they're gone completely, and the land is ours yet again." _

_"They think they had the gall to try and force us off of our land," Gangor chuckled, "but we showed them, didn't we chief?"_

_Daron let out a smile and said, "We sure did Gangor. Now get everyone ready for dinner. We need to keep their strength up if we wanna win, don't we?"_

_Gangor nodded and only said, "We sure do, chief."_

_"I'm gonna reveal something really special to them involving our conflict with the World Government" Daron stated, "so get them together as soon as possible!"_

— — —

_Captain of the Guard Rudolph Fang, current leader of Fort Almeda, slammed his fist down on his personal table in his office. Fort Almeda itself was an impressive feat of ingenuity, being built out of stone and wood. It was surrounded by a moat, where the only way in was a wooden drawbridge that would be brought down only by those inside, stopping any intruders from coming in. An older design of forts, by the creator's own admission, yet still completely effective._

_Inside of the fort was a large courtyard where soldiers constantly trained, and on the stone walls ramparts, there were always soldiers patrolling with weapons at the ready. And right at the center of the fort in a large tower stood Rudolph Fang, safely in the confines of his office._

_In his office he had his second-in-command—Commander Stanton by name—where he often talked strategy with him in an attempt to rid Mononakre Island of the scourge that is the Freedom Fighters._

_"I want Arkan's head on a stick!" Fang roared, slamming his fist down on the desk yet again. "I've had this order for two years now, and no one's been able to deliver! Why is that Stanton?"_

_Commander Stanton cleared his throat, adjusted his cap, and replied. "Sir, with all due respect, we haven't found any trace of where the Fighter's home base may be. It is highly theorized that Arkan would be based there if—"_

_"Don't give me your damned theories!" roared the Captain of the Guard. "I want Arkan's head on a fucking pike. Is that so hard? Instead, what I get is several missing or ransacked convoys, dwindling supplies at the fort, and most recently, Lieutenant Stone's body being found in the middle of the jungle!" _

_"I assure you, we're doing our best," said Stanton, keeping his cool in the situation. "Yet after combing through the jungles of this island, we've found no trace of any base at all. At best, we find old campfires put out in haste, but never anything else."_

_Fang sighed and sat down in his chair, putting his hand to his head. "It looks like I can't trust any fool under my command to carry out a simple order. I'm surrounded by idiots who don't know which way is north, but I tell you this Stanton: I will personally see to the destruction of the Freedom Fighters."_

_Stanton__ nodded and only offered his agreement. "Yes, sir."_

— — —

_The soldiers at Fort Almeda have never found the base of the Freedom Fighter's because their views and searches were too limited. In layman's terms, they were situated only on the ground. The reason they can't find any bases on the ground, in other words, was because there _were_ no bases on the ground._

_Daron, the undeniable leader of the Freedom Fighters, had enough wit to realize if they were to have a main base where they could accrue supplies stolen from the World Government, it would have to be somewhere they wouldn't expect. Put simply, he built his base high in the massive trees that overtook Mononakre Island._

_It was lovingly called the "Treehouse of Freedom" by the Fighters, and called the "Bastion of Savagery" by those at Fort Almeda. The treehouse itself was situated in one location, yet it was large enough to house the entire resistance, and all while being protected from the foliage of the trees so that no one down below could find it._

_The only way to get to the treehouse was through the proper "vines," which would allow them to climb up straight to the base with relative ease. Picking the wrong vines, however, and it could very well lead to certain death through the wild animals. In the center of the base was the "Dining Room," which was simply a large circular area where the Freedom Fighters all gathered for their meals._

_At dinner that night, while everyone was eating their food (cooked by campfires at the base itself), Daron Arkan called everyone to his attention. He graced them with a generous smile before going on to say what he wanted._

_"It's nice to see you're all enjoying your meal—"_

_He was cut off by the cheering of the Fighters. After it settled down, he continued._

_"—but I'm going to have to darken the mood a bit by talking about military strategy for a second."_

_The group groaned, several of them lightheartedly throwing their food scraps at Daron, who batted them away easily and tried to calm them down._

_"Now, now, it's not so bad. In fact, I'm happy to say that the most recent cargo raid had brought us up to the right amount of materials we needed to bring about the end of Fort Almeda, and subsequently the end of the World Government on our land."_

_The group cheered again, yet Daron continued undeterred. _

_"By utilizing their own gunpowder and explosives," he explained, "we will be able to blow the base sky high! The only problem is that we current don't have enough manpower to pull off an all-out offensive to go along with it. In short, we have the materials to start the attack off, but not enough men to follow it up. So unfortunately, it will have to wait until we have enough of a force to put them down once and for all."_

_The group booed at this, and Daron sat down. Ritz, who was sitting next, patted him on the shoulder and said encouragingly, "Don't worry about it. I'm sure we'll get enough people soon enough."_

_Daron sighed and said, "It would require a miracle, Ritz. Let's just hope the fates shine in our favor."_

— — —

_Not a day later, it seemed that Daron's "wish" was answered, and it came just as the sun was setting. Gangor showed up breathless to Daron while in their base and Daron demanded to know what was going on._

_"It looks like off the shore there's a group of pirates that have landed on the beach rather hastily," he said. _

_"Pirates?" questioned Daron. He was immediately up and looked at Gangor, Ritz, and ten other men nearby. "Come with me. We're going to go and meet these pirates and see what their game is."_

— — —

_"Gyayayayaya, nice to meet ya stranger, the name's Captain Rokun, and my crew here is known as the Deadeye Pirates."_

_The Freedom Fighters met the Deadeye Pirates almost immediately, as they hadn't even gotten off the beach yet, and were still trying to set up camp._

_Daron looked at Rokun with suspicion. This was evident when he immediately started barraging him with questions. "Why would you land here when there are no ports on this island?"_

_Rokun looked at his ship, which looked to be "docked" on the beach and tilting at one side, hastily secured to make sure it wouldn't fall over to one side. All-in-all, the work was done rather quickly._

_"Gyayaya, we ran into a bit of a problem," Rokun said. "Ya see, our ship a while back hit a reef and we've been takin' on water ever since. We had to land on the next island we see to get a fresh supply of timber, and as it turns out, your island is the one we stumbled across. And by the looks of it ya got a lotta nice trees around."_

_Daron stepped back in a defensive motion and said, "I'm afraid we can't let you indiscriminately chop down trees. I'm sure you understand why."_

_"Gyayaya, we get it," responded Rokun. "The last thing we wanna do right now is piss off the locals. Could ya at least point us to where there's a market so we can legally buy some wood for repairs?"_

_Daron tilted his head in thought for a second, before saying, "Being pirates, I'd imagine you don't have a lot of love for the World Government."_

_"We hate it, of course, like all pirates," replied Rokun, quick as a flash. "They think they can police the world and yet they call pirates the real enemy."_

_Daron smirked and said, "Well that's just what I like to hear. Tell ya what Rokun, we'll let you have all the lumber from the trees that you need, but you have to help us with something first."_

_"What's that?"_

_Daron motioned towards the forest of trees and said, "Follow me and I'll let you know."_

— — —

_Rudolph Fang was feeling quite pleased with himself. He leaned back in his chair and looked out his window, overlooking the entirety of Fort Almeda and grinned wolfishly. Commander Stanton couldn't hold it back any longer, as he felt compelled to talk to his superior._

_"What's putting you in such a pleasant mood today, sir?"_

_Fang looked at Stanton, keeping his grin, while saying, "Why, I feel confident that today is the day I take Arkan's head."_

_Stanton__ tilted his head in confusion. "Why is that, sir?"_

_"You see, my dear Commander, I've just sent out a party to ambush poor Mr. Arkan, in the shape of a convoy" laughed the Captain of the Guard. "He'll go in unwittingly and attack, thinking it's the same as anything else he's ever done, but he'll be caught off guard, and I'm certain he will die because of it."_

_Commander Stanton nodded and said, "I'm sure it will work, sir."_

_"Of course it will," snapped Fang, still keeping his happy demeanor._

— — —

_"Pretty swanky place you got here," Rokun said, looking at Daron's Treehouse of Freedom. "Bet it took ya a long time to make it."_

_"Not really," Daron said offhandedly, showing Rokun and the five pirates he brought along into the Dining Room. _

_They all sat down, and Daron began to relay his idea to Rokun. "So we've gotten the supplies necessary to pull this attack off, but all we need is an attacking force. So I was thinking you and your pirates can help us and do what you do best: fighting the World Government. If you helped us out in this regard, we'd be more than happy to see you off with all the supplies you'd ever need."_

_Rokun rubbed his chin thoughtfully and mused, "An interesting deal, no doubt. It always warms my heart when I see the World Government gets what it deserves."_

_"You can think about it while we're having dinner," Daron offered, prompting Rokun to smile at the prospect, his stomach rumbling with hunger…_

_While Rokun and his men were enjoying the feast the Freedom Fighters put on, Gangor showed up next to Daron and whispered into his ear. "A convoy has recently been spotted moving through southeast of here. It looks like it's carrying a large amount of supplies and is not too heavily guarded."_

_Daron smirked. "They must be relaxing their guard just because we rarely attack at night. That or they can't spare the manpower. Either way, I'll go and take care of it."_

_"Please take a few men with you," Gangor pleaded._

_Daron refused, saying back, "We need everyone here—especially you and Ritz—to help convince Rokun to aid our cause. If he sees just how many we need to take to fend off one convoy, he might get discouraged. Don't worry, I won't be gone long."_

_Gangor nodded and Daron stood up, saying to Rokun, "Excuse me for a bit Captain Rokun. I'm afraid some of my business calls; I won't be gone long."_

_"Gyayaya, take your time," said Rokun while drinking some ale. When Daron nodded and left, he let out another laugh and muttered to himself with a smile, "Don't worry about old Rokun…"_

— — —

_Daron didn't waste any time, as he immediately leapt in front of the convoy, taking out his combat knife. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen," he said, "just surrender all the supplies ya got and I won't have to kill you all."_

_The leader of the convoy smirked and then whistled. Then, from the large carrier wagons which should be holding supplies, out came a large amount of soldiers, each with their rifles trained on Daron._

_"We were sure you'd lead this attack Mr. Arkan," the leader of the convoy smirked, taking out his own pistol. "Yet to attack us by yourself, you must truly be an idiot."_

_Daron was surprised, but didn't show it visibly. He simply smiled and said, "Well come on then. Show me the power of your World Government training!"_

_Daron was immediately in front of the surprised leader, and before he could pull off a shot, Daron shoved his knife straight into his chest, sending him to the ground in pain. Shots were then fired by the soldiers and some of them grazed Daron, but he didn't let up as he weaved between men, employing his martial arts skills and his knife to finish off three within three seconds._

_A soldier snuck up behind him and fired a shot that went straight through Daron's leg. He grunted, but quickly turned around and threw his knife right at the man, burying itself into his throat. The man let out a gargled cough of pain before falling back dead. Daron quickly retrieved the knife and went on to continue his ferocious attack, but it soon became clear that he was outnumbered._

_After several minutes of fighting, Daron's breath began to get ragged. He had gotten shot in numerous places, although none of them fatal. He had been slashed by swordsman and struck by fists, yet still he continued, letting out a roar as he continued his attack. Finally, after taking a bullet to the shoulder, he began to slow down._

_The soldiers were still great in number, and took every opportunity to weaken the leader, never quite killing him. A soldier raised his sword up behind the unsuspecting Daron and was about to finish him off, when a man leapt out of nowhere and knocked the soldier out with a kick. _

_Daron looked to see who it was yet didn't recognize the man. He had black hair that was graying, yet he didn't find out anything else as he was shot yet again. After a few more minutes of battle, the fight took its toll and Daron collapsed._

* * *

Who is this stranger?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	97. The Marauder 2: Slaughter Under the Moon

After Daron passes out. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**97: The Marauder 2- Slaughter Under the Moon**

_Daron's eyes opened slowly to see a darkened room. He looked around and saw the man with graying hair talking with someone else in the room. With a confused look on his face, he saw that he was bandaged, but was able to sit up easily anyways._

_"Who the hell are you and where am I?" he asked, as the two men looked towards Daron with surprise and confusion._

_The man with the graying hair looked at the other and said, "Leave us for a bit, Tobias. You and Benjamin go and guard the ship, please."_

_The man apparently named Tobias nodded and exited the room, leaving only Daron and the man with the graying hair._

_He stood up and looked at Daron, pointing to his bandaged chest. "Sure looks like your wounds healed pretty fast. You don't look like you took seven bullets at all."_

_"I ate the Mend-Mend Fruit a while back," Daron explained. "Not that it really matters right now. That doesn't answer my question of who you are and where I am, though."_

_"You're on my ship right now," the man answered. "We've recently docked on the island, and my name is Victor D. Capere. And if you don't mind me asking, you're Daron Arkan the Marauder, leader of the Freedom Fighters, right?"_

_Daron nodded, and then Victor seemed to light up._

_"I'm a big fan of your work!" Victor said cheerily. "I just love the idea of using guerilla warfare to take out the bigger and stronger enemy. In fact, I came here hoping I might be able to meet you in person, and it looks like I did more than I expected—I saved you from your enemies!"_

_"What happened to the rest of the soldiers?" he asked._

_"Dealt with them," Victor said quickly. Then he changed the subject. "So if you don't mind me asking, why exactly where you trying to take those soldiers alone? I was traveling around the forest in hopes of finding your base, and I suddenly see you trying to take on at least fifty guys."_

_"They ambushed me," Daron replied_

_Victor nodded and then asked, "If you also don't mind me asking, I like to keep up a lot with anyone who's against the World Government and recently there's been this guy on the rise named Dragon, who hates the World Government as much as you do, so why haven't you joined forces with him?"_

_Daron knew who Monkey D. Dragon was very well and said, "Dragon's going too slowly and is too soft. The only way to make the World Government understand is to use an excessive amount of force and violence, just like they do. Only then will they understand what they're doing." Daron then said in haste. "Look, I appreciate you saving me Mr. Capere, but I'm afraid I must be getting back to my base right now."_

_Victor raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why the rush? I was hoping you could tell me a bit about your operation and how exactly you plan on getting rid of the World Government's presence and—"_

_"Not that I wouldn't love to do that," Daron said, cutting Victor off, "but unfortunately, I'm a little busy. You see, I've got to finish convincing Captain Rokun to join our side so we can—"_

_"Did you just say Captain Rokun?" asked Victor, showing a face of concern. "As in Deadeye Rokun?"_

_Daron nodded. "He's at my base right now. You see, I'm trying to recruit him to—"_

_"When did you meet with him?" _

_"When the sun was setting," Daron answered. He looked around to try and find some sort of window, but was not successful. "What time is it anyways?"_

_Victor ignored the question and shook his head in a sad fashion and said, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but Deadeye Rokun is famous for working undercover for the Marines and World Government. He's mostly used to infiltrate pirate sanctuaries and—"_

_"WHAT?"_

_With that news, Daron stood up and rushed towards the door, leaving Victor to call back for him in a concerned voice. "Wait, what are you doing? Come back here!"_

"That fucker's at my base right now,"_ thought Daron as he left the room and quickly leapt off of Victor's ship onto the beach of Mononakre Island, sprinting full speed back into the forest. _"I hope I haven't been out too long, or else…"

_Daron pushed that thought out of his mind as he ducked and weaved through the dense cluttering of trees in an attempt to find his base as quickly as possible._

— — —

_Daron looked upwards towards his base with shock. Up right above him, the Treehouse of Freedom was fully ablaze and falling apart right before his very eyes._

_"No…" was all he could mutter as he saw the flames lick hungrily at the treehouse and the trees that held it up. "No, no, no, no…"_

_All around him wild animals were scurrying away from the danger, as the fire only continued to spread. Daron, however, remained motionless, seeing that he could not take his eyes off of the loss of his home for years._

"Everything I fought for…" _Daron found himself thinking. _"Everything I had…gone just like that…What a fool I was to trust that pirate…it's all my fault…"

_Daron looked down to see the bodies of several Freedom Fighters. Daron assumed they had fallen_

(or thrown)

_off the Treehouse of Freedom while a fight was ensuing. He kneeled down and pushed over the closest body who's back was facing towards him, and saw the face of Ritz, his dead and cold eyes staring up past the flames and into the night sky…_

_Feeling no strength at all, Daron dropped to his knees as tears welled up in his eyes. With a scream of pain and anguish, he slammed his fists down on the dirt, cursing his foolishness and weakness._

_There, in the ashes of his base and friends, he stayed for what seemed like an eternity. When he was finally finished, however, that pain was replaced with pure vengeance, outlined through the light of the moon shining on him…_

_Within minutes, he was in front of Fort Almeda._

— — —

_"Here's your pay," Fang said, throwing a sack full of gold towards Captain Deadeye Rokun, who happily caught it and smiled._

_"It was real easy once their leader left," Rokun said with a laugh. "I had one of my men leave and bring the rest of the crew to ambush the fools, and once I learned that they had crates full of gunpowder…well, I just couldn't resist, gyahahaha!"_

_"Don't bother me with the details," Fang said in a disgusted tone. "As long as those damned Freedom Fighters are gone, I'm happy. You've been paid, now get out of my base and sight."_

_"Gyaya, that's no way to show your gratitude," Rokun said, "but I guess I understand, we are just traitor pirates after all, although as long as it pays well, I really don't give a fuck! Feel free to call us again if you need any help."_

_A soldier came up to Commander Stanton and whispered into his ear. Stanton nodded and before the Deadeye Pirates could leave, he said, "Sir, apparently a lone intruder has infiltrated Fort Almeda and is attacking everyone within it."_

_"What?" asked the incredulous Fang. "Who let the bridge down to let him in?"_

_"No one, sir," replied Stanton. He gulped and continued, "It appears that he was able to leap across the moat and punch a hole straight through the door, allowing him access into the entire fort."_

_"Leap over that whole moat and punching through a solid wood door?" asked a chuckling Rokun. "That takes some real power!"_

_Fang stood up and knew who it was, immediately saying, "Arkan, that bastard!" He looked at Stanton and then Rokun, ordering, "You're all coming with me to help me finish off this pest once and for all! Once he's gone, the World Government will be free to call this island theirs!"_

_They all nodded and followed him out the door so they can leave the tower and meet the intruder on the courtyard._

— — —

_"Latent Spear Strike!"_

_"GAHHHH!"_

_"Latent Axe Strike!"_

_"URK!"_

_"Latent Hammer Strike!"_

_"ARGHHHH!"_

_Pure fury and vengeance was in Daron Arkan's eyes as he plowed through every soldier through his path, using his secret techniques to increase his power recklessly and killing absolutely everyone in his path; he employed his combat knife multiple times to make sure of that._

_"We need more soldiers at the courtyard now!" a lieutenant roared to his soldiers as he fired a shot at Daron. "Where the fuck is the backup?"_

_The shot skinned Daron's arm, but that didn't stop him from suddenly appearing right in front of the lieutenant and throwing a powerful punch, yelling, "Latent Hammer Strike!"_

_The hapless lieutenant flew several feet with a scream until he struck the stone wall, silencing him forever._

_Several shots were fired and wounds were issued to Daron, but with the power of the Mend-Mend Fruit and his own determination, he kept going, roaring and cursing and killing all the way._

_"Arkan, I think you're looking for me!" Daron heard someone roar._

_He looked to see Captain of the Guard Rudolph Fang standing there, behind him was the stoic Stanton and the laughing Rokun. Daron brandished his combat knife and roared, "Fang and Rokun! Nice to see you had the guts to show up!" Then, with anger in his voice: "I promise to see that your life is ended today!"_

_"Give it up Arkan," scoffed Fang. "You've lost all of your men—you're the only one left of the Freedom Fighters. What can you possibly do against a whole fort of World Government soldiers?"_

_Daron pointed his knife at Fang and said, "I can kill you all!"_

_Fang took this as an insult and brushed off his jacket, showing off his muscles. He brandished a fearsome-looking cutlass and said, "Then by all means Arkan, try me!"_

_With a roar, the Marauder rushed straight towards every soldier at Fort Almeda, never giving up or faltering for a second._

— — —

_The flames that started at the Treehouse of Freedom wasn't ever put out. It continued to spread among the entire forest on the island of Mononakre. It only finished when the entire forest was reduced to nothing but ashes, extinguishing all life on that island, animals and humans included, and subsequently (and ironically) stopping the World Government's interest in that island once and for all._

_The flames were still spreading and the night was ending, however, when Victor D. Capere came through the shattered doors of Fort Almeda. When he entered the courtyard, he saw a sight that didn't surprise him. Littered throughout the courtyard were the bodies of every soldier assigned to the fort. It was soon clear by the deathly silence that no one was left alive._

_In the very middle of this slaughter, Daron Arkan sat, sitting down with his knees held to his chest and his back turned to Victor. Surrounding him were the desecrated bodies of Fang, Stanton, and the Deadeye Pirates, and buried within the chest of Rudolph Fang himself was Daron's trademark combat knife._

_Victor slowly walked towards Daron and stopped not a few feet away from the Marauder. "Do you hate the World Government?" he simply asked._

_Daron showed no surprise at Victor's voice and simply answered, "Yes."_

_"Do you hate pirates?" he asked._

_"Yes."_

_Victor smiled internally and finally asked, "Will you join me and help put an end to both of them?"_

_Daron turned around to show his bloodied face, yet it was quite clear that he was crying underneath all of his enemy's blood. He nodded and said, "If it destroys both pirates and the World Government, then yes…"_

_Victor smiled reassuringly and said, "I can assure that that we will, given the proper amount of time."_

_Victor held out his hand and Daron grasped it. Together they both exited the remains of Fort Almeda, where Daron left his combat knife buried, to show for anyone who came across that battleground of death, that it was the Marauder who singlehandedly destroyed everything._

— — —

_"The World Government and Pirates took everything away from me!" _Daron thought bitterly, snapping back to his battle with Sanji and Boa Hancock. _"They destroyed my life and my home, and I can never ever forgive them for that. Ever since joining up with Victor, I've taken a laidback and deadpan expression to all of my comrades, not wanting to get too attached due to the pain I went through the first time. These two fools don't know the pain of loss and could never understand what I've been through, but I'll show them right now!"_

Daron put all of his strength into the final blow as he cocked his fist back and threw it towards Sanji, who was shielding Hancock. The Marauder's fist was blocked before it could hit Sanji, however.

Someone had came between Daron and his victims before he could pull off the final blow, leaving all three of them to look at him with surprise.

"You're…" Sanji started, but couldn't find the words to finish. Hancock herself was likewise speechless.

"Who exactly are you?" asked Daron, his fist still in the hands of the defender.

The man blew smoke straight into Daron's face—no doubt annoying the Marauder—saying, "The name's Splint, and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!"

* * *

The revolutionaries are involved now?

**Behind the Character (8): Splint**

While it's generally not in an author's best interests to play favorites with any of his characters, I feel like I can say that Splint was definitely my favorite OC I created. It's hard to explain why I like him so much: maybe it's his name, or his personality, or whatever, but for some reason I feel genuinely connected to him and have always enjoyed writing scenes where he was involved.

Originally, Splint was supposed to be a one-chapter character, appearing in chapter 10 as the revolutionary who rescued Robin from Tequila Wolf, basically explaining how she got on the road to finding the rest of the crew, but then I thought that he was too cool to let go, so I kept him in the story, having him be the revolutionary escort through the first half of the story.

Design-wise, he was based off of Kisuke Urahara from _Bleach_, although that should have been pretty obvious right away, what with his bucket hat or hair. I like to think of him as an homage to one of the coolest characters ever created in manga history, but others might see it as ripping off (although I'd like to emphasize the _homage_ portion of his design).

Personality-wise, I wanted to let him always have a calm, cool, and collected personality, never unnerved, but dealing with situations as they happen. However, I also wanted him to be incredibly likeable in his personality so the characters in the story would be able to interact with him without feeling intimidated. I also added in chain-smoking for fun and to add the "coolness" factor (not that I'm endorsing smoking).

His devil fruit, the Blank-Blank Fruit, I can easily say is my favorite devil fruit creation. I've always had this idea in the back of my head when I was juggling around devil fruit abilities for certain characters, and this one I think seemed to have a lot of strengths, but was also limited, making it seem more realistic, and therefore more enjoyable and grounded.

Splint's not out of the story yet (as the cliffhanger of this chapter has clearly shown), but I think sharing all this behind-the-scenes information never hurt anyways…

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	98. Revolutionary Ideals

With Splint now on the scene... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**98: Revolutionary Ideals**

Daron quickly freed his captured fist and leapt away from his newest adversary. Although he didn't know it, he actually gripped his hand in pain while staring down at the trio.

"Splint, you say?" he asked.

The revolutionary nodded and took off his gloves, saying, "That's right, and you must be Mr. Daron Arkan. I happen to know quite a lot about you."

"Well I know nothing about you," Daron said. "So get lost before I kill you too."

"Oh, you don't know me?" questioned Splint, taking off his trademark bucket hat and holding it to his chest, performing a quick bow. "Well allow me to inform you!"

He threw his bucket hat straight towards Daron's face, causing him to look with confusion, not being able to see. Before he could move, the middle of the hat was suddenly erased, leaving the two end halves to fall to the floor in a heap. Daron looked surprised to see Splint right in front of him, already cocking his left fist back.

"Revolutionary Style: Dragon Fist!"

He smashed his fist straight into Daron's stomach, winding him yet causing no recoil. Splint didn't end it there as he did a quick handstand and brought his foot smashing down on the unguarded Daron's shoulder.

"Revolutionary Style: Crane Drop!"

He quickly landed back on his feet and threw a kick straight towards Daron's right arm, saying, "Revolutionary Style: Tiger Strike!"

Daron gripped his arm in pain and still found that he couldn't do anything in his weakened state, as Splint went to finish him off. He threw a barrage of fists straight towards Daron's chest, this time the recoil sending him flying several feet away and landing on his back.

"Revolutionary Style: Wolf Barrage!"

As soon as Daron landed, Splint dropped took a puff on his cigarette and looked back towards Hancock and Sanji, who simply stood there in awe of the combo Splint just pulled off. He walked closer to them and raised his hand in a welcome gesture.

"Nice to see you guys again," he said with a smile on his face. "You have nothing to worry about anymore; the heroic and incredibly handsome Splint has come to rescue you!"

"Uhh, Splint…" Sanji started.

"Looks like I arrived in the nick of time too," he continued, not paying heed to what Sanji said, "since if I didn't show up and pull off a perfectly-executed block, you would have most likely be dead."

"Splint," persisted Sanji.

"By the way, it was rather heroic and masculine to throw yourself in front of the woman like that. You have my respect for pulling off such a—mgbh!"

Sanji threw a kick straight to Splint's stomach, stopping him in his tracks. He gripped it in pain as Sanji could finally asked, "Why the hell are you here?"

"That's not a very polite thing to ask to someone who just saved your ass," Splint replied. He then smiled and added, "Most people would say something along the lines of 'hello' or 'thank you'."

Sanji poked him in his eye to get his attention and said, "We don't have time for stuff like that. Just answer the question."

Splint rubbed his wounded eye and said, "Alright, alright. I was sent here by Dragon to follow you and the rest of the Straw Hats. In short, I was sent as a protection force in case anything happened."

"You mean you've been tracking us all this time?" asked an incredulous Hancock.

"You could say that," was the revolutionary's response. "You make it sound like a bad thing, though…"

"Did he also send Ivankov?" asked Sanji.

Splint shook his head, saying, "Both he and Inazuma were sent by Dragon on another mission, although I don't have any of the details. As far as you know, it's just me here."

Before Sanji or Hancock could ask any more questions, Daron was on Splint, slugging him right in the side of his face and sending him barreling to the ground. Sanji reacted quickly and threw a kick towards the side of Daron's head, but he blocked it with his arm, although it did separate him from the three.

Splint stood up rubbing his head, a small amount of blood trickling down from his mouth. "Ouch, that sure was unexpected…"

"He's eaten the Mend-Mend Fruit," Hancock explained. "It allows his wounds to heal at an abnormal rate."

"I know, I know," Splint said, straightening himself up and looking at Daron, who did the same. "I also heard he packed quite a punch, and that sure turned out to be true."

"I don't care if there are two, three, or a million of you," Daron finally said in a dark tone. "For Victor's sake, I'll kill anyone who gets in the way of our dream of ending the World Government and pirates in general."

Splint raised an eyebrow, asking, "So what exactly are your plans on that subject?"

Daron dropped to the floor and planted his hands on the ground. His usually calm voice faltered to show a bit of agitation when he finally said, "That's none of your business, Mr. Splint!"

With a roar, he lifted his hands up and brought out a large amount of the earth with him, holding the large chunk of rock over his head. With a grunt, he threw it straight towards the three of them. Splint reacted almost immediately, appearing right in the middle of the boulder and using his Blank-Blank powers to erase it right down the middle, leaving the remaining two halves to fall to their sides out of the group's way.

Daron used this opportunity to strike, however, as he went straight for Splint again. Before he could land a blow on the unsuspecting revolutionary, however, Sanji dropped to a one-handed handstand and kicked Daron hard in his exposed ribs, causing him to cough in pain and get thrown to the side.

"Côtelette Kabosh!" Sanji said as he hopped back to his feet.

Splint looked at Sanji and smiled. "Nice to see you can still fight."

Sanji lit himself a new cigarette (Splint following suit) as he said, "We need to work together to finish him off. He's done quite a number on me and Hancock, and although you may be fresh, if you go in alone you won't win."

Splint nodded as he said, "Luckily I have a secret weapon." He rummaged through his back pocket and pulled out a pair of seastone cuffs. "We get this on him and he's just as vulnerable as the rest of us."

"Alright," Sanji said. "Hancock, you go left, I'll go right, and Splint can go in the center. Put those on him while he's off-guard, ya hear?"

"I'm not some newbie punk that doesn't know about strategy," Splint fumed. "Don't worry about me. Just make sure you guys don't die."

Daron let out a massive roar of annoyance as he leapt to his feet. He had reached his breaking point and broke into a full-on rage. "Enough!" he roared. "I'll finish you all off right now!"

He employed his secret technique to violently disappear from the group. They all took this as a signal as they all moved at the same time. "Go!" Sanji said.

Daron reappeared quickly and Hancock was immediately on him. Doing a quick series of handstands, she threw both her legs at him in a whirlwind motion. The first one struck Daron, but he took a quick step back and grabbed Hancock's other leg. With a roar, he lifted her over his head and brought her down on the other side of him in a smashing motion.

"Hancock!" Sanji roared. "Damn you!"

Daron let go of the grounded Hancock and set his eyes on Sanji. He quickly disappeared and reappeared right in front of Sanji. "Son of a bitch!" roared Sanji, throwing his leg towards Daron's head. "Collier—"

His attack didn't land as quick as lightning, Daron shot his fist out straight at Sanji's unguarded chest, causing Sanji's eyes to go white and blood shooting out of his mouth as he was sent flying away from Daron, the rage still quite evident on his face.

Splint was suddenly behind Daron as he leapt into the air and spun around, aiming a kick straight for Daron. "Revolutionary Style: Flamingo Chop!"

Daron was able to grab Splint's leg, however, before it hit him and used it to drive him closer. When Splint was close enough, Daron launched his fist straight at Splint's chest, also causing him to spit blood and get sent flying back just like Sanji.

Daron looked around to see all three fighters down and let out a beastlike roar. "You're all too soft and don't know the price of a real battle!" he howled. "The Revolutionaries are too soft in their ideals and too sluggish to get anything done! Pirates only add to the problem with their lying and thieving ways! You're all hindering true justice by going against us!"

"And what exactly _is_ true justice?" Daron heard Sanji ask from behind him.

The Marauder looked and saw that Splint and Hancock were also back on their feet, all of them walking towards him.

"To think the Revolutionaries have the same goal as you, yet our ideals seem to be so different," Splint added, spitting out his cigarette.

"We don't know what kind of pain you've been through," Hancock stated, "but after what you and Victor have done in order to achieve your goals doesn't justify it."

_"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"_ Daron roared. _"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"_

"He's expended almost all of his energy," Splint said to Hancock and Sanji, bursting into action. "Because of that, his wounds are healing slower. Let's end this now!"

"Right!" they both said at once.

Sanji leapt into the air as his leg once again glowed red. "Diable Jambe!"

Daron looked up at Sanji, and Boa Hancock took that opportunity to slide to the ground and kick Daron hard on his legs, making his balance unstable. Splint used that opportunity to rush up and tackle Daron, knocking both of them to the ground. "Revolutionary Style: Elephant Rush!"

Daron hit the ground hard as Splint quickly grabbed the seastone cuffs and locked it onto one of Daron's wrists. He then quickly moved away from him, looking up at Sanji and saying, "He's all yours!"

Sanji nodded while in the air and lifted his foot heated leg up high and appearing right over Daron's still form. "Time to learn some manners," Sanji said as he flew down towards Daron. "Bad Manners Kick Course!"

He brought his leg down straight on Daron's chest, adding his momentum and weight, causing Daron to let out a massive roar of pain and blood flying out of his body. After the attack landed, his body seemed to stay still, as Sanji stood up and started walking away from him.

Not three steps away from the fallen Marauder did Sanji feel a jolting pain run up his leg. He grunted and fell to a limp, his glowing let looking like it was cracking. He was about to fall when Boa Hancock was suddenly on him, grabbing him and holding him up. Sanji looked completely surprised as he looked up at Hancock.

"Does this mean you like me now?" he asked.

Hancock looked away and said, "Idiot! I hate all men…except Luffy."

Sanji closed his eyes and smiled, nodding at this statement.

Splint lit himself a new cigarette and looked at the two fighters. "Hey, now see what the power of teamwork does?"

"Teamwork my ass!" Sanji cursed. "We did most of the work, and you just show up last minute to help us finish the fight!"

Splint shook his head and said, "Now that's no way to speak to a comrade. After all, I did save your life and provide you with the seastone cuffs necessary to finish him off." At the end of that, he added a disarming smile.

"Why you chain-smoking, revolutionary son of a…" Sanji mused.

"Let it go," Hancock said. "Without his help, we would've been dead."

Splint walked closer to them and said, "It's alright. I wasn't just sent here to fight with you anyway, I was also sent to—look out!"

Behind Hancock and Sanji, Daron Arkan's semi-conscious form stood. He was muttering something to himself as he cocked back his fist and roared, getting ready to attack the unprotected fighters.

Splint quickly pushed them out of the way and was able to catch his fist in time. With a look of disgust, Splint spat his cigarette right into Daron's face, saying, "You think you're doing good to get rid of the World Government, yet all the evidence you've left points to the contrary. Dragon may be slowly dismantling the World Government piece by piece, but at least with our way we're not leaving destruction in our wake."

Daron muttered something again, his eyes pure white and blood flowing from his face, and Splint thought he heard something like, "Government…soft…Freedom Fight…"

_(the only way to make the World Government understand is to use an excessive amount of force and violence, just like they do)_

Splint seemed to nod and say, "I agree, the World Government is horrible, but you've done enough. For now Daron, just let it go…"

Splint cocked his fist back and launched it into Daron's chest, causing him to spit out blood and lose all consciousness, leaning forward and collapsing right past Splint and landing on his stomach, his breathing going steady now as he finally stopped exerting himself.

"Revolutionary Style: Dragon Fist," Splint said softly.

With Daron finally unconscious, Splint looked to Hancock and Sanji and said, "Come on, we're not finished yet. We've still got a lot of work to do."

"You're kidding, right…" Sanji sighed, feeling the effects of their prolonged battle.

"Afraid not my brave companion," Splint said cheerily, walking away from them. "Come on now, follow me, there's still more cleanup to be done."

Sanji and Hancock looked at each other, and finally they both shrugged and followed Splint, leaving Daron Arkan the Marauder in his unconscious form with his troubled mind, which always seemed to circle back to his tragic past on Mononakre Island.

— — —

"Wah, look out!" Usopp wailed as Kenji and Kaede went rushing towards him, Chopper, and Franky.

Franky leapt in front of the other two Straw Hats and aimed his open left arm towards the two, shooting a cannonball straight towards both of them, yelling, "Weapons Left!"

The cannonball flew right down the center, and both Kaede and Kenji split apart, letting the cannonball fly past them and letting it hit a tree stump far behind them, lighting up the marsh temporarily with a fireball.

Kaede cracked his knuckles happily and said, "I like him. How 'bout we split the group between the two of us, Kenji? How's that sound?"

Kenji sighed nonchalantly and cracked his neck. "I dunno about that, brother. Teamwork is usually the best strategy…"

Kaede grinned wolfishly and said, "I guess you're right, brother. Fine then, let's take 'em both together!"

Franky, Usopp, and Chopper struck up fighting stances when Kaede spoke, and Franky yelled to his two companions, "Get ready, 'cause here they come for real!"

* * *

Franky, Usopp, and Chopper vs. Kenji and Kaede!

**Behind the Character (9): Daron Arkan**

When I was deciding the group that would become the antagonists serving under Victor, I wanted it to be a wide variety of members with a wide variety of abilities. For example, I wanted a Logia (Aliyyah) and a Zoan (Kenji and Kaede), but I didn't want to just limit it to Devil Fruit Users. Sanji and Zoro came into mind of non-Devil Fruit Users on the Straw Hat Crew, so naturally I went by their model, making a swordsman (Benjamin) and a melee fighter, thus creating Daron Arkan.

Daron was a tricky character to portray, due to how I shaped his personality. I made it after the fact that he's supposed to be constantly tired and uncaring, in other words, the lazy character of the group. Personality-wise, there was no specific model, although if one squinted hard enough, they might see a resemblance to Coyote Starrk from Tite Kubo's _Bleach_, although that image started to get skewed during his final fight with Sanji, Hancock, and Splint.

Design-wise, he was actually based on Inui Banjin from Nobuhiro Watsuki's _Rurouni Kenshin_, who was also a hand-to-hand combatant. In fact, it was the camouflage that he wore that inspired me on Daron's background. Well, that and the fact that I'd recently studied the Vietnam War and always wanted to portray guerilla warfare fighting (a concept I tried and not quite succeeded at with the rebels on the Vespian Isles).

As for his actual fighting techniques, I wasn't really a big fan on naming any of his regular abilities, more outlining how he had more a brutal instead of refined fighting style. In the end, though, he did have an ace up his sleeve and I did end up naming those attacks, but there weren't too many, so it wasn't that big of a problem.

Like Farraday's, I wanted Daron's Mend-Mend Fruit to be a completely passive ability, in no way helping with his strength and fighting abilities, allowing me to outline his combat capabilities more clearly. Strangely enough, when I was first conceptualizing the devil fruit ideas, Benjamin was actually slated to have the Mend-Mend Fruit, but then I thought him using a sword, Tekkai, and having that power would be too much, so I gave it to Daron, the next logical choice.

While Daron is by no means a weak character, I think he is one of the weaker members of the Corps of Kings simply because he doesn't have a devil fruit that enhances his combat capabilities, but I still respect him as a character and enjoyed him throughout the story.

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	99. The Zoan Pair

The two brothers fighting together! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**99: The Zoan Pair**

"I feel like I should warn you!" Usopp declared right before Kenji and Kaede launched their attack. "I have 8,000 men surrounding this swamp and they are ready to take you down the second you move!"

"Wow, did you hear that, brother?" Kaede said, looking at Kenji.

Kenji sighed and explained, "It's a bluff, Kaede. It's only the three of them we have to fight."

Kaede looked embarrassed and said, "I guess you're right. Sorry about that, got caught up in the heat of battle and all…"

"Weapons Left!" roared Franky, shooting another cannonball out of his left arm and going straight for Kaede.

The blast struck head on, and for a second the Straw Hats thought they had injured him, but before the smoke could fully clear they heard Kaede say, "I like an enemy who makes the first move. I think I'll take my time with you."

The smoke was gone to reveal Kaede holding out his right arm, except that his entire arm was transformed into an arm of a Cerberus, complete with a large paw with fearsome-looking claws coming out. The transformation continued up through his shoulder and stopped at his chin, although he smiled and revealed fangs that had replaced his teeth.

Without another word, Kaede rushed straight towards Franky, having his transformed right arm poised back and ready to strike. Franky stood his ground and held out his left arm, expanding it into a circular, shield-like state. "Star Shield!" he yelled just as Kaede struck it.

Franky was able to stand his ground as the shield absorbed all of the impact. Kaede smirked and used his untransformed left arm to punch Franky in his exposed ribs. Much to his surprise, however, he hit metal, causing him to recoil in pain. Franky took this opportunity to cock his right fist back and launch it straight towards the unsuspecting Kaede, his right fist completely separating by a chain.

"Strong Right!"

Kaede was able to side-step the blow and look at Franky with the same smirk. "Not bad…"

Usopp got out his Kabuto and aimed it towards Kaede. "Hold on Franky, I'll back you up!"

"I believe that I'm here as well."

Usopp looked to his side to see Kenji rushing towards him, a smile on his face as well. Before he could attack Usopp, Chopper came between the two in his Heavy Point mode, throwing a punch straight at Kenji, saying, "Heavy Gong!"

Kenji stopped and rose up both of his covered hands to block the blow. He was able to sweep it aside and look at Chopper quizzically, saying, "So you're a Zoan-user too, eh? I guess that explains why you're a talking reindeer…So you ate the Reindeer-Reindeer Fruit, then?"

Chopper looked offended by this and said, "No! I'm a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Fruit! Heavy Point!"

Kenji lightly ducked Chopper's blow and quick as lightning, threw his own fist towards Chopper's exposed ribcage, causing him to grunt in pain and collapsing to his knees in pain on the marshy floor.

"Chopper!" Usopp said.

Kenji held up his arm which struck Chopper that was still covered by his overly-long sleeve. "Too bad for you I'm also a Zoan Fruit User, and not to brag, but I think mine's stronger."

He pulled the sleeve up to reveal he transformed his arm into the leg of a mastodon: cylindrical, full of muscle, and covered in thick brown fur. At this point, Chopper was back up and with a roar of anger, rushed towards Kenji again, launching both his fists forward saying, "Double Heavy Gong!"

Once again Kenji ducked, and, while transforming his other arm into that of a mastodon, was able to launch both of them towards Chopper's chest, causing him to spit up blood and get sent flying back to the ground, where he stayed still.

"Shame…" Kenji mused before looking at Usopp. "You're next then?"

Usopp looked visibly frightened as he took a step backwards, gripping his Kabuto tighter. Then he heard Kaede say to his side, "Your other friend wasn't much of a challenge either…"

Usopp looked to see Kaede standing there, both of his arms likewise transformed into that of a Cerberus, and off to the side he saw Franky face-down, not moving. _"They both got taken out so easily…"_ Usopp thought as he began to tremble. _"This really seems hopeless…"_

Kaede hopped next to Kenji and as they both looked at Usopp. "We've been called the Zoan Pair, and we're feared throughout all the Grand Line as unstoppable when working together. Why don't you just give up now so we can move on to more interesting fights."

Usopp gripped Kabuto even tighter as he suddenly yelled, "No! Firebird Star!"

A large firebird flew from his weapon and went straight for the two brothers. Kaede quickly leapt in front of Kenji as suddenly two large dog heads appeared on both sides of him, as his face began to transform into a dog as well. When the transformation was complete, all three dogs let out an unearthly roar right at the firebird. Surprisingly, lava shot out of all three dog's mouths in a steady stream. It instantly incinerated the firebird as soon as it hit and continued on straight towards Usopp.

With a shriek of fright, Usopp hopped out of the way as the lava flew right past him, striking and melting the trees that were behind him. Acting more on instinct now, Usopp shot again towards the two, yelling, "Sunflower Star!"

Five pellets flew towards Kenji, as he simply looked with curiosity as all five struck him dead-on. The smoke cleared, however, to show Kenji completely unaffected, although his shirt was now burnt to nothing, revealing his chest that was covered in very thick mastodon fur, protecting him from the attack.

"Close, but no cigar," was all Kenji said to Usopp. "What do you say, brother, shall we just end it now?"

Kaede shrugged and said, "Might as well, he bores me anyways."

Kenji nodded as both Kaede and Kenji transformed into their full animal forms, a Cerberus and mastodon respectively. "Time to die!" Kaede laughed as they both readied to charge at Usopp.

"70mm Caliber Cola Coup de Vent!"

A small burst of air flew in and struck Kaede's side, powerful enough to wind him and stop him in his tracks. Before Kenji could look to see what happened, Chopper rolled in right underneath Kenji and shot his fist straight upwards, yelling, "Heavy Gong!"

The strike visibly affected Kenji as his legs buckled and Chopper quickly got out before Kenji dropped any lower to the ground.

"No matter how big you are, if someone hits you directly in the stomach unprepared, you're gonna feel it!" Chopper said as he ran towards Usopp.

"Chopper! Franky!" Usopp exclaimed as both Straw Hats came towards him.

Franky was the first to suggest, "We gotta go and form a plan against these guys; they're too strong right now!"

"Right!" Usopp said, aiming his Kabuto towards the two brothers. "Super Smoke Star!"

A large smokescreen appeared between both Kenji and Kaede, blocking their vision. "What the hell is going on?" they heard Kaede curse.

"Let's go!" Chopper said, as they all rushed into the woods surrounding the open-field they were on.

After they got a little ways in, they all huddled together to form a plan. "The Cerberus can shoot lava out of his mouth at will," Usopp explained to the other two, "and the mastodon's hide is thick, shielding him from normal attacks."

"On a size scale, the elephant-thingy is bigger than the three-headed dog, but not by much," Franky said, rubbing his chin. "And from the looks of it, the dog's skin looks very tough, probably as tough as steel."

"There's always a weak point on anything," Chopper said with a grin. "We just have to find and exploit it."

"How do we do that?" inquired Usopp.

Chopper pulled out a Rumble Ball and said, "I'll go into Brain Point while you two do your best to distract him. It won't be long before I find out where their weakness is and then we can keep hammering them there."

Franky nodded and cracked his knuckles, saying, "Alright, then let's—"

A large amount of lava shot through the forest right behind the group, causing them all to jump in surprise. They looked behind themselves to see that an entire row of trees were gone, leaving only charred earth.

"Shit!" Usopp cursed. "If that lava touches you, you'll be incinerated instantly!"

From not-too far away, they heard Kaede laugh in an unearthly voice. "The Cerberus was said to be the guard dog of hell, so of course the lava is deadly!"

"How'd they find us?" Chopper asked desperately, looking around.

Before anyone could answer, a large tree close to the tree fell down and almost landed on them, causing them to jump with fear. They looked to see the massive Kenji the Mastodon standing there, his fearsome tusks fully out.

"A dog has a keen sense of smell, you know," Kenji said, deciding to answer Chopper's question. "I'd imagine it's not that hard to sniff you guys out."

Kaede suddenly busted in on the scene and appeared next to Kenji, a malicious grin on all three dog's faces as lava dripped from their mouths and their ferocious claws tapped against the soft ground impatiently.

"Damn!" Franky said, opening his left arm and looking back at Usopp and Chopper. "Get back you guys, I'll hold 'em off! Blind Spot Cannon!"

With Anti-Monster Shells loaded into his arm, Franky shot the blast at point-blank range at both Kenji and Kaede, causing an explosion. The Cyborg used this opportunity to get in a few hits on the enemy.

"Franky!" Chopper yelled as he backed away. "Try hitting the Cerberus in the jaw!"

"What?" questioned the Cyborg.

"If he's anything like a normal human or animal, a strike to the jaw should at least jar him," Chopper explained quickly.

"Right!" grinned Franky as he leapt in the air towards the side of Kaede, shooting his arm out on a chain and saying, "Strong Right!"

The blow struck Kaede dead-on in the jaw on the dog head at his right, causing him to roar in pain. Before Kaede could counterattack, Kenji was already on it, rushing straight towards the still-airborne Franky and striking him with his tusks, sending Franky flying backwards through the air and hitting a tree.

He dropped to the floor with a groan as both Chopper and Usopp appeared at his side. Franky quickly got up and grabbed the base of the tree he hit, lifting it out of the ground with a grunt.

"Hey Usopp," Franky said with a malicious grin, "lend me a hand willya?"

Usopp gave him a thumbs-up and said, "Right!"

"Choke on this ya bastard!" Franky stated as he threw the tree straight towards the charging Kenji. "Heavy Nunchaku!"

"Firebird Star!" Usopp yelled, shooting a large firebird following behind the tree.

Eventually it caught up and engulfed the tree, setting it alight and flying towards Kenji. The younger brother quickly moved to the side and swung his head, knocking the tree away from him, yet slowing him down immensely. Usopp, Chopper, and Franky used that opportunity to get out of the woods and back into the open marshland.

"We need to initiate the plan!" Franky said to his two companions. "Usopp, you setup what is necessary to trap them while Chopper discovers their weak point. I'll—"

He was cut off as the crackling of trees overpowered his voice to reveal Kaede bursting through them, all three heads snarling. "That was a cheap shot there Sunglasses," he fumed. "I'll have to return the favor in spades!"

Franky surprisingly smiled and said, "My name's not Sunglasses, it's Franky, and if you wanna talk about unfair advantages, let's talk about how you—URGH!"

Before Franky could finish, Kaede appeared right next to him and dealt him a fierce swipe with his paw, sending him flying through the woods and taking several trees with him.

"Fast…" was all Usopp could say.

"Franky!" Chopper screamed.

Usopp attacked quicker than Chopper, raising his Kabuto and aiming it straight at Kaede's face. "Take this! Heavenly Dragon Sta—"

The roar of an elephant took over as Kenji was on the scene, causing Usopp to look with surprise. Thinking fast, he switched targets and was about to attack, but Kenji was able to swipe him dead in his chest with his large trunk, causing Usopp to spit out blood and get sent flying into the boggy marsh with a splash.

"Usopp!" Chopper roared before looking at the two enemies.

In a rage, he rushed towards Kenji with his fist cocked back. Before he could strike, however, Kaede let out another roar as all three heads shot lava out of their mouths. Thinking fast, Chopper changed back into his smaller size so the lava could harmlessly pass over his head.

Kenji was ready for Chopper, however, as he rushed towards the reindeer with the intent to gore him with his tusks. Chopper did a quick roll to the side to avoid the tusk, but he wasn't prepared when Kenji used his trunk to smash Chopper in his stomach and sending him flying into the air while winded.

"This…is bad…" was all Chopper could say as he was in the air.

Before he could hit the ground, Kenji moved his head to the side, smashing Chopper with his tusks and sending him flying to the ground in a heap as well. With all three Straw Hat's down, the two brothers looked at each other and then transformed back into their human forms.

"What a disappointment," Kaede said, wiping some blood that trailed from his mouth. "And here I thought Victor promised us some entertaining fights."

Kenji shrugged and offered, "It wasn't that bad. They did come up with some interesting tactics."

"Just not enough," snorted Kaede in a disgusted manner. "I hate fights that aren't interesting. Come on, let's go. We did what Victor wanted to by luring whoever came with the fake Vivre Card, so now we can meet up with everyone else and get to Raftel."

"Six Chamber Pit-Viper Star!"

Six pellets flew in a snake-like motion between the two brothers, exploding between them and forcefully separating them. Both leapt away in time and were unharmed by the attack.

"Nice try, but next time, why don't you try _hitting_ them," they heard Franky say.

"I wouldn't fault Usopp too much," Chopper added in. "He made a pretty good shot, all things considered."

"Shhh, it's not Usopp now, it's Sogeking!"

Both Kenji and Kaede turned around and saw all three Straw Hats on their feet and slowly walking towards their enemies, their spirits apparently as high as ever. Both brothers also noticed that Usopp had put on a mask (which they both thought looked stupid).

Kaede smirked at the sight and said, "Well, well, I guess we gave you too little credit."

"We probably just didn't hit them hard enough," Kenji suggested.

Franky, Chopper, and Sogeking ignored what they said as Franky looked at his two companions and stated, "Alright, let's put the plan into action. Chopper, you find their weak point as fast as possible!"

Chopper nodded and said, "Right!"

Franky then looked at Sogeking and said, "Let's do it then!"

Kaede leaned closer to Kenji and said, "It looks like they're getting serious, so we might as well do the same, right?"

A slow grin appeared on Kenji's face as he simply nodded. "I'd say that's a good idea, brother."

* * *

Forming a plan to defeat the two zoans!

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	100. Clamp

A familiar ship approaches...

**So...100 chapters. Didn't quite expect the story would be _this_ long. Oh well, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**100: Clamp**

On a ship known as the _Red Force_—which was very close to Spectrum Island—Red-Haired Shanks stepped onto the deck and stared at the island where all of the conflict was taking place. He then looked into the distance to see the _Thousand Sunny_ leaving the island to chase after Victor. Closing his eyes, Shanks let out a deep breath and heaved a massive sigh.

"Why aren't we chasing after him?" he heard someone behind him say.

Shanks turned around to see Marco the Phoenix standing there, his usual lackluster look imprinted on his face. Shanks smiled at his old companion and put his hand on his shoulder.

"This is Luffy's journey, remember?" he said with a smile. "If I were to interfere with his personal quest and do anything to either stop or help him getting to Raftel, then I'd be breaking our promise."

"Suit yourself," Marco said, walking slightly back to break Shanks's grip on him. "You were the one who got in contact with me and Mihawk and told us to come here."

Shanks looked to the side of the ship and said, "Speaking of Mihawk, where is he?"

Marco shrugged. "Can't find him anywhere; I'm just surprised he decided to come and meet you. Aren't you guys rivals?"

"_Were_ rivals," Shanks corrected. "And let's just say our relationship is a bit deeper than what most people know. Anyways, if he took off already, that's fine; I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

Marco sighed and asked, "If we're not going after Luffy, why would we come all the way here?"

Shanks ran a hand through his hair and said, "Luffy's crew is still on this island fighting with Victor's crew. Although we can't help Luffy, we can still offer aid to them."

Marco understood as he transformed his arms into phoenix wings saying, "If that's the case, then I think I'll scope out the entire island and see what's going on."

"Good luck then Marco," Shanks said with a smile. "Take care of yourself."

"I don't need you to tell me that," retorted Marco as he took off of Shanks's ship.

Shanks looked into the sky to see Marco off, only saying, "Fly high, old friend."

— — —

Tony Tony Chopper held a Rumble Ball out in his paw as he looked at Franky and Sogeking in front of him.

"You just have to give me enough time to find their weaknesses," he said to them. "Then we can regroup and start from there."

Franky nodded and looked at Sogeking. "Let's go!"

Franky started rushing towards the humanoid Kenji and Kaede and Sogeking stood behind holding his Kabuto and aiming it straight at them. "Ho," Kaede commented as Franky sped towards them, "just going with a head-on attack then?"

Franky removed the skin on his right hand to reveal his mechanical arm made entire of metal. He threw his fist back and launched it straight at Kaede yelling, "Strong Hammer!"

The steel fist detached from his arm completely and flew straight towards Kaede. He was able to easily sidestep it, however, smirking as he said, "I've seen that move too many times."

Franky wasn't paying attention to him, however, as he opened up his left arm and aimed it at Kenji, shooting a cannonball and yelling, "Weapons Left!"

Kenji looked at this with surprise as the attack seemed to hit him dead-on, causing smoke to fill around him. Chopper threw the Rumble Ball in his mouth and looked at Sogeking, saying, "Go!"

Sogeking nodded as he aimed his Kabuto towards the smoke Kenji was engulfed in and yelled, "Atlas Comet!"

Four pellets flew out of Kabuto with smoke coming out of the ends of them, converging together and flying into the smoke, exploding inside. Inside of the smoke they heard a grunt as Sogeking looked at Chopper and said excitedly, "I got him! You see that?"

Chopper didn't answer as he struck his paws together and said, "Scope!"

Just when Sogeking was looking back, he let out a shriek of dismay as he saw a hybrid form Kenji—slightly larger with tusks protruding from his mouth, a trunk, and his arms transformed into mastodon feet along with his entire body being covered in thick fur—rush out of the smoke heading straight for Sogeking.

Before he could move, Kenji was on him, slamming his two transformed arms straight into Sogeking's chest, sending him flying through the marsh and hitting his back against a tree with a grunt. Not even bothering to look at Chopper, Kenji moved straight for Sogeking again, pinning him against the tree.

"Nice mask," he simply said to the trembling Sogeking. "Mind if I smash it?"

Sogeking pointed to the side of him and said, "Look over there!"

"Huh?" Kenji actually turned his head to the side in the heat of the moment and saw nothing. He turned it back and said, "Hey, you think that would actually—"

"Flash Dial!" yelled Sogeking, holding a dial in his hand and releasing a large burst of light straight into Kenji's eyes, causing him to scream in anger and back away, rubbing his eyes.

Kaede looked over and saw his brother being temporarily blinded, before looking at Chopper, staring intently at both he and Kenji. Suddenly understanding, he yelled to his brother, "Kenji! That raccoon is doing something tricky! Forget the guy with the slingshot and take him out!"

"I'm not a raccoon! I'm a reindeer!" shouted an incredulous Chopper from far away.

Kaede saw that Kenji wouldn't be able to see for a bit, and decided to do it himself. Before he could rush to Chopper, however, Franky came in front of him with both his fists ready to attack.

"Franky Boxing!" he said as he threw a series of punches towards Kaede.

Kaede neatly dodged and blocked the blows and said, "Bastard! Get out of my way!"

Kaede then transformed into his hybrid form—both his arms transforming into that of a Cerberus complete with claws, his legs turning into hind legs and growing in bulk and muscle, a large set of fangs grew on him as the top half of his face turned into that of a Cerberus.

He threw back both his arms and then launched them at both of Franky's sides. Thinking fast, the Cyborg threw up both his arms and blocked them. Kaede only smiled at this, however, as he hopped up and aimed both his hind legs towards Franky's chest, shooting them out and sending him sliding back a few feet.

Franky quickly recovered and aimed his left arm at Kaede and yelled, "Beans Left!"

A large amount of ammo shot out of Franky's arm like a machinegun straight towards Kaede. Using his animal-like reflexes, he was easily able to avoid all of them and rush straight towards Franky, swiping his blunt paw towards Franky's head.

"Just give it up!" jeered Kaede as he threw the blow.

The Cyborg was able to duck and smiled, putting both his arms together and aiming them at Kaede's chest. "I got you now!" he remarked.

"What do you—"

"Coup de Vent!" roared Franky as he shot out a large amount of compressed air straight towards Kaede's exposed chest, sending him coughing out blood in pain and flying back towards the trees behind them, breaking one as he hit it.

Franky breathed a quick sigh of relief and looked back at Chopper, asking, "How much longer will it take?"

"Just a little bit more," Chopper quickly replied. "It takes longer when their weaknesses aren't as apparent!"

"Chopper look out!" Franky yelled, as he saw a recovered Kenji right behind him poised to strike.

Chopper looked and quickly rolled out of the way of Kenji's strike. Not a split-second after, Sogeking showed up right behind Kenji and launched an attack at his feet, saying, "Sticky Star!"

The pellet exploded into a sticky substance on the ground, catching Kenji's feet and stopping him from moving any further. He looked at Sogeking with frustration as he aimed his Kabuto again and fired, saying, "Firebird Star!"

Before the strike could hit Kenji, he squatted close to the ground and with a large grunt leapt into the air, able to break away from the substance and fly high into the air, the firebird flying towards Chopper, who let out a quick scream and dived out of the way.

"Sorry Chopper!" Sogeking said.

"Damn!" Franky said as he looked and saw Kenji high in the air, looking down at bother Chopper and Sogeking.

Before he could move, however, a bloodied Kaede flew from the woods behind him with both his arms thrown back. Franky could only turned halfway before Kaede launched both of his fists towards Franky's ribs, causing him to spit up blood and go barreling to the floor.

"Kenji!" Kaede roared to his brother. "Let's stop fooling around and end them now!"

Kenji nodded while in midair and transformed into a full mastodon, landing on the ground with all fours, causing a rumble and throwing both Chopper and Sogeking off-balance.

Suddenly, Chopper yelled to his friends, "I got it!"

Before he could say anymore, Kenji appeared behind him, and knowing he couldn't do anything in time, Sogeking yelled, "Chopper! Look out behind you!"

Chopper didn't look surprised as he looked at Kenji and simply said, "I've still got half a Rumble Ball left, Arm Point!"

Kenji saw Chopper's arms grow very muscular and asked, "What the hell kind of transformation is that?"

Chopper didn't answer as he cocked his arm back and said, "Get out of my way! Cloven Rose!"

Chopper's powerful attack hit Kenji's closest leg, causing him to scream out in pain and buckle his leg, bringing him to the ground with a crash. Franky was up at this point and running towards Chopper and Sogeking, as the Doctor looked at them both and said, "Come on, let's get out of here!"

"Super Smoke Star!" Sogeking yelled, releasing a smokescreen around the two brothers.

Chopper, Franky, and Sogeking used that opportunity to once again rush into the cover of the woods surrounding the marsh. When they were gone, Kenji slowly stood back up (in pain the entire time and cursing Chopper out).

Not able to see his brother, he yelled, "Kaede, sniff them out and let's crush them in our fully-transformed forms!"

Kaede responded with a large amount of sneezing and after it passed, he called back. "That sniper filled the air with pepper; I can't track their scent!"

— — —

Once again huddled together and surrounded by trees and foliage, both Franky and Sogeking looked at Chopper expectedly. "Well?" the Cyborg finally asked, rubbing his side where Kaede unexpectedly struck him.

Chopper nodded and said, "The Rumble Ball's effect has worn off, but I know where both of their weak-points are. For the mastodon, it's right at the very top of his head—the crown of the skull, one might say."

"Something that simple?" inquired Sogeking.

Chopper grinned and said, "Unlike regular elephants, mastodons have a flatter skull that creates a ridge right in the very middle of the skull going down until the top of the trunk. If we hit that spot hard enough, we should be able to defeat him!"

"And for the Cerberus?" asked an expectant Franky.

"He was much harder to figure out due to his strange body type," Chopper said. "But I eventually found out that the area underneath his chin is much softer than the rest of his body."

"Alright!" cheered Franky. "Now we can definitely beat them!"

Chopper cleared his throat to get both of their attention and said, "Well, for the Cerberus it's not that simple. Since he has three-heads, you'll most likely have to hammer all three weak-points before he goes down."

"In other words," stated Sogeking, "if we don't beat all three heads, he'll keep comin' at us just like before."

Chopper nodded.

Franky didn't let this deter him, however, as he rubbed his hands together and said, "Let's worry about that when it comes. For now, we need to think of a battle plan. Usopp, tell me all the equipment you have on you right now and—"

A large amount of lava flew on both sides of them at the same time, burning the trees that were covering them. "Damn, they found us so fast!" cursed Sogeking. "I thought the smokescreen laced with pepper would've held 'em off a little longer."

"No time to worry about that," Franky said, standing up. "We gotta go now!"

However, after that initial attack, none followed it and the three in fact heard both Kenji and Kaede began to say things very loudly—things that sounded confrontational.

Deciding to find out what was going on, the three Straw Hats moved through the cover of the forest and peeked out into the open marshland. There, they saw both Kenji and Kaede in their human modes, staring at someone who had their back faced to him.

"I _said_, where the fuck did you come from?" repeated a clearly angry Kaede.

The man shrugged and said, "I thought it was pretty obvious: I flew in."

Kaede let out an angry growl as Kenji put his hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "He's right, brother. I saw him. Correct me if I'm wrong, though, stranger, but might you be Marco the Phoenix—the Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates?"

"Whitebeard?" Sogeking said in a surprised tone to Chopper and Franky.

Marco scratched the back of his head and said, "You'd be right. And correct me if _I'm_ wrong, but were you two transformed into large animals and chasing after three people I would take as members of Straw Hat Luffy's crew?"

Kaede let out a wolfish grin and replied, "Yeah, you're right."

"Then where, pray tell, _are_ Straw Hat Luffy's three crewmates?" asked the Phoenix.

Kenji looked past him and pointed to the three, saying, "They're right there, actually."

The three Straw Hats let out a startled noise before finally walking out of the woods and having Marco turn around to see them. He immediately waved and said, "Hi, my name's Marco, and while I was flying overheard I couldn't help but notice your predicament. Need some help?"

Franky blinked. "Uhhh…sure."

* * *

Backup from an unlikely source!

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	101. Wreck the Weak Point

Marco the Phoenix enters the fray. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**101: Wreck the Weak Point**

"Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, eh?" Kaede asked with a grin. "This should get very interesting, especially since those other three were getting very boring."

Marco quickly hopped over to Sogeking, Chopper, and Franky, saying, "I know your captain and have given my word to protect him—as it turns out, my protection also extends to his crew, and you looked like you were in quite a spot."

"How'd you get here?" asked a curious Franky.

Marco shook his head and said, "It doesn't matter. What does matter right now is that we have to beat these guys as soon as possible."

Chopper nodded and said to the Phoenix, "We've discovered their weak-points. The one who turns into a mastodon is vulnerable on the top of his head, while the one that turns into a Cerberus is weak underneath his chin."

"Hey, Whitebeard Captain!" called out Kaede, who was starting to get impatient. "What happened to the _real_ captain of the crew, eh?"

Marco flinched at this, and for a split-second, a small amount of anger could be seen on his face.

Despite that, Kaede continued. "I heard he died before he could even save his son Ace—oh wait, sorry, I guess he died _after_ he saw Ace get killed right in front of his eyes! I had no idea the Whitebeard Pirates were that weak."

"You said the Cerberus's weakness was under his chin, right?" Marco asked quietly to Chopper.

"Huh? Uhh…yeah."

Marco nodded and simply said, "Good!"

With that, he transformed into his hybrid Phoenix mode, with blue-flamed wings and sharp claws replacing his legs. Without a word, he rushed straight at Kaede, who also transformed into his hybrid mode and rushed to meet him, both grappling each other in the middle.

"Kenji!" Kaede called while showing a strained grin. "I'll take care of the Phoenix! You finish off the remaining three, and no messing around now, ya hear?"

Kenji nodded as he transformed into his hybrid mode, saying, "I hear ya brother."

Franky struck up a fighting stance and said, "That Marco guy can take care of Cerberus—let's finish off the elephant!"

"Mastodon!" Kenji corrected before rushing at the group yet again.

The three Straw Hats separated, leaving Kenji to strike nothing but air. Franky immediately rushed into action, aiming his left arm at him and saying, "Weapons Left!"

Kenji saw the cannonball coming, however, as he was able to easily leap into the air, avoiding it altogether. While in the air, Sogeking aimed Kabuto at him, firing a high-speed pellet with a tail of smoke coming off from the end, saying, "Butterfly Meteor!"

Kenji, unable to dodge in midair, struck up a defensive position as the pellet hit him and exploded on impact. Not long after, Kenji landed on the ground, smoke rising from his body, but nothing else indicating he was injured.

Before Kenji could move, Chopper was on him in his Heavy Point mode, throwing a powerful punch to the back of his head saying, "Heavy Gong!"

Kenji was able to duck before it hit, however, and threw a quick and powerful elbow to Chopper's stomach, winding him and causing him to grip it in pain while taking a few steps back. Franky wasn't done, however, as he rushed towards Kenji and threw a punch, yelling, "Strong Right!"

Kenji quickly side-stepped the attack and grabbed the outstretched chain connected to Franky's arm. With a grin, he pulled it forward, tossing Franky behind him with a thud. With Sogeking being the only one facing him now, he aimed his weapon at Kenji, but the Mastodon was ready to be on the offensive, rushing towards Sogeking and before the sniper could attack, Kenji launched both his cylindrical bulky arms towards Sogeking's chest, sending him flying backwards and landing painfully to the ground.

While on the ground, Sogeking muttered, "We've gotta get him to his full form…It's too hard to hit the top of his head at this size…"

Suddenly, Kenji heard Chopper and Franky behind him say, "We know!"

With a surprised look on his face, Kenji turned around to see the two Straw Hats with both their fists cocked back in unison. Before Kenji could defend or counterattack, they both launched their fists forward at the same time, striking him in the chest and causing him to spit up blood.

"Super Frapper Gong!" they both yelled as Kenji gripped his chest and dropped to his knees in pain.

Not wanting to be close when Kenji recovered, both Chopper and Franky rushed over and helped Sogeking get back to his feet. All three of them stared at Kenji as he slowly rose to his feet. Still keeping his composure, he looked at the three and said, "Good teamwork; I wouldn't have expected it from you."

Sogeking smiled behind his mask and held up his Kabuto saying, "Don't worry, there's more. Tell me, do you smell that right now?"

Kenji looked around quizzically and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"There's this invention called the Breath Dial," Sogeking continued, "and it can be used to store all sorts of interesting gases."

Suddenly, Kenji understood as he smelled the flammable gas all around him. "You don't mean…" he started.

"Yep!" Sogeking cut off, holding his Kabuto and aiming it straight towards him. "I mean that you're finished! Firebird Star!"

The large firebird flew towards Kenji, and as soon as it struck the gas in the area, the whole place ignited in flames, taking Kenji who was right in the middle. Fortunately, the three Straw Hats were far enough away that they didn't get caught in the fireball.

When it was done, Franky put his hand on Sogeking's shoulder saying, "It's a good thing you put that down in advanced, or else this wouldn't have worked."

Sogeking nodded. "That particular tricks been pretty useful recently…"

Soon enough, the flames disappeared, burning themselves out, leaving Kenji still standing on his feet in the middle of it all, smoke rising from his body. He looked up at the group with rage, and finally lost all his composure.

"He's still conscious?" asked the surprised Chopper.

"You fools have been allowed to live for too long!" cursed the angry Kenji. "It's time you all got smashed beneath my feet and DIE!"

With that, he transformed into a full-grown mastodon, clearly ready to kill the three Straw Hats. "Alright, this is it!" Franky said. "Let's keep hammering his weak-point, and we should come out on top!"

— — —

As Kaede was grappled with Marco while both were in their hybrid forms, he couldn't help but ask, "Your flames look pretty hot, yet they're not burning me as I touch them at all!"

"These flames aren't hot and don't spread," Marco said. "They're mainly used for regenerative purposes!"

"Well that's good for me," Kaede said as he opened his mouth to reveal his sharp teeth. "It means taking you out won't be hard at all, Phoenix!"

Before Kaede could attack, Marco kneed him straight in his stomach, causing Kaede to grunt in pain and let go of his grip. While Kaede took a few steps back, Marco leapt into the air and swung one of his claws towards Kaede's face with a kick. The attack struck and left a large gash on Kaede's chin. With a growl of annoyance, Kaede opened his mouth and shot out a large burst of lava.

Marco reacted quickly and covered himself with his wings, letting the lava hit it. When the attack passed, Marco moved his wings to reveal that he was perfectly uninjured, but his face was replaced with surprise when he saw Kaede right in front of him, bringing his claws in an upward arc, slashing Marco right in his chest.

The Phoenix took a few steps back while the Cerberus continued his attack, leaping into the air and bringing his arms down on Marco's shoulders, digging his claws straight into them. This time, Marco was able to grab his outstretched arms and threw Kaede to the ground right in front of him, his back hitting the marshland with a thud.

With a quick leap back, Marco summoned a ring of blue flames around him, which immediately went to healing the injuries he just sustained. Kaede stood up with anger stamped on his face, and he looked about to speak when flames engulfed the area where Kenji was fighting with Sogeking, Chopper, and Franky.

Kaede quickly craned his head to the left and saw that Kenji was caught in that attack. Marco took note of this and asked, "Aren't you gonna go see if he's alright?"

Kaede uttered a small laugh and said, "My brother can take care of himself, and I know that kind of attack wouldn't kill him. However, it does mean that I should try and finish you quickly before you use anymore of that pesky regeneration you have."

Marco raised an eyebrow. "And how do you intend to do that?"

"By going all-out," Kaede quickly replied.

With that, he quickly transformed from his hybrid mode to his full Cerberus mode, complete with his three heads snarling and letting out a massive howl. Marco looked at this with fascination.

"Two mythical Zoan-users fighting each other, eh?" he asked. "This oughta get interesting…"

"Come on, Phoenix!" Kaede growled, speaking in his unearthly voice again. "If you don't transform, then I assure you this will end in an instant—and I at least want to get my moneys worth from you!"

Marco scratched the back of his head and said, "So eager to battle, you are. Don't worry, you'll meet your match with me."

With that, Marco transformed into his full phoenix mode, and took to the sky, flying over Kaede and letting out a massive cry. Kaede simply looked up as all three heads smiled, the middle one saying, "Now that's more like it. Come on, show me why you served under Whitebeard with your legendary strength!"

— — —

Kenji didn't waste any time, as he immediately rushed at the group while letting out animal-like cry. Chopper pulled out another Rumble Ball, and Franky noticing, asked, "Hey, you're gonna use another? I thought it was dangerous to do that."

"This is only my second," Chopper replied. "Although it's a little more unstable and I won't be able to choose the forms I want, I'll need it to finish him off. It's only when I take three that…bad things start to happen."

Franky visibly gulped, remembering Chopper after he took a third Rumble Ball on both Enies Lobby and Sabaody Archipelago. Pushing it out of his mind, he aimed his left arm at the charging Kaede and prepared to fire, saying, "Loaded with my Anti-Monster Shells, let's do this! Blind Spot Cannon!"

A powerful shell flew from Franky's arm and struck Kenji right in the side of his face. It didn't stop his attack, but he looked visibly bothered by it. Before he could hit anyone, the Straw Hats scattered to both sides of him, Chopper throwing the Rumble Ball in his mouth.

"Rumble!"

"Chopper, you go left, Usopp, go right, I'll go down the middle!" Franky said quickly. "Try and get him to his knees!"

"Right!" the sniper and doctor said at the same time.

"Jumping Point!" Chopper said, attempting to transform into it.

Unfortunately, he didn't transform into Jumping Point, but into his Horn Point, large sharp antlers growing on him. Sighing yet deciding to go with it, Chopper rushed towards Kenji's back-left leg and struck it, causing him to roar in pain and having that leg buckle slightly.

Sogeking aimed his Kabuto right at Kenji's back-right leg and shot three pellets right in front of it, saying, "Special Oil Star!"

Kenji didn't have time to avoid the oil pool right in front of him, and his leg slid and sent that leg buckling as well. Before Kenji could react, both of his back legs gave way and he hit the ground hard.

"Hit him now, Franky!" Chopper yelled.

Franky leapt into the air right in front of the immobilized Kenji and put both his arms together. After aiming right for him, he said, "Eat this you overgrown elephant! Coup de Vent!"

A very powerful blast of compressed air flew straight towards the top of Kenji's head, hitting him right on target. With a large roar, Kenji shook his head in pain, but surprisingly, wasn't out yet as in a frenzied state, he stood up and charged straight towards the falling Franky.

"Arm Point!" Chopper yelled.

Chopper was only able to transform into Jumping Point, however, but he acted quickly and leapt high into the air. Sogeking was right there, throwing Chopper his Impact Dial and saying, "Give it to Franky, quick!"

Chopper obeyed and threw it straight towards Franky in the air. The Cyborg was able to grab it quickly and hold it in front of him as a shield. Kenji's attack hit him dead-on, however, and sent him smashing to the ground with a groan of pain.

"Franky!" Sogeking called in concern.

However, his Impact Dial flew through the air and Sogeking was able to catch it. Moving quickly, Sogeking shot a quick exploding pellet to Kenji's backside, causing him to look behind him with anger stamped on his face.

Before Kenji could move, Sogeking was on him, holding the Impact Dial straight to Kenji's weak-point. With a roar of triumph, Sogeking released all the energy Franky just collected and said, "Impact!"

The attack hit dead-on, and after a second hit, Kenji started losing consciousness. With various roars of pain, he staggered around. Unfortunately, Sogeking was sent flying backwards in pain and hit the ground with a painful thud, not bothering to get up.

"Chopper! End it!" he yelled, however.

"Come on," Chopper said to himself. "This is the last of the Rumble Ball, so please let this be the right transformation! Arm Point!"

Surprisingly, his two arms bulged in muscle as the transformation was successful. With a quick cry of glee, Chopper leapt into the air going straight for the delirious Kenji. Cocking both of his arms, Chopper neared the top of Kenji's mastodon skull, and with a massive cry, he roared, "Cloven Rose Blizzard!"

He then released a barrage of powerful punches all at Kenji's weak-point. Kenji was powerless to do anything, and simply spat out a large amount of blood and let out a few fleeting cries of pain. When Chopper finished his barrage, he transformed to his normal Brain Point and flew over Kenji, landing behind him in a heap, having used up all his energy.

Kenji, meanwhile, lost all forms of consciousness, and transformed back into his human form before finally collapsing on the ground, not letting loose a single word.

The three Straw Hats were victorious, but all three were grounded and too tired and hurt to move. Despite that, they all smiled at their victory, glad it all worked out in the end.

— — —

Marco the Phoenix once again flew down low from the sky and was able to employ his sharp talons to hit Kaede the Cerberus. The latter grunted in pain, and tried to strike at Marco with his three heads, sometimes getting a bite, but usually missing. After a few of these attacks, Kaede started to get angry.

"Stop being so cowardly and attack me straight on!" he roared.

"You're the one who wanted me to change into a phoenix," Marco quickly replied, going in for another attack and cutting one of Kaede's hind legs.

Kaede shot a powerful burst of lava out of all three heads that flew straight towards Marco in the sky. However, the phoenix was able to easily avoid it, getting away without being harmed.

Kaede's temper was only rising at his battle with Marco, and he was about to attack again, but then he heard a series of yells and grunts from nearby. Looking in the direction of the noise, he saw his brother Kenji fighting off with the three Straw Hats. Watching a bit more, he saw that they were repeatedly hitting the top of his skull, and that Kenji was getting injured because of it.

Marco didn't notice this and swooped down in the sky for another attack. Before he could hit, however, Kaede had moved away and kept staring at his brother's battle. Finally, after seeing Chopper deliver the final attack and seeing Kenji collapse, Kaede quickly transformed back into his human form.

"KENJI!" he yelled in a concerned voice before rushing away from his battle and towards his younger brother.

Marco looked at him in a confused manner

_("my brother can take care of himself, and I know that kind of attack wouldn't kill him")_

but decided to follow him anyway. Not too long after Kaede appeared on the battlefield of Franky, Sogeking, and Chopper. With a quick glance around, he saw that all three Straw Hats were on the ground and not moving.

"Shit…what's he doing here?" Franky weakly asked.

Kaede didn't pay them any mind, however, as he immediately went towards the fallen Kenji. He gently lifted his head up and tried to shake his brother awake. "Kenji, Kenji, come on and wake up. I know you wouldn't lose to people like these…"

However, after a few seconds, it became clear that Kenji was out cold and wouldn't be waking up any time soon. Tears began to stream down Kaede's face as Marco flew over the battlefield and quickly landed, transforming back into his human mode.

_"YOU BASTARDS!"_ Kenji roared to the three Straw Hats. _"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY BROTHER! I'LL MAKE SURE YOU PAY FOR THIS!"_

Marco quickly looked around and saw that the Sogeking, Chopper, and Franky were immobile and wouldn't be able to fend off Kaede's fierce attacks. Despite that, he still said to him:

"Look out guys, the Cerberus is mad, and I think he's gonna do everything he can to kill you all to avenge his brother's defeat…"

Usopp took of Sogeking's mask and said weakly, "That's just great…"

* * *

One down, one to go...

**Will be updating on Sunday due to Christmas. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!**

**Behind the Character (10): Kenji**

I designed both Kenji and Kaede as a pair, and as such, I sort of feel like they're both halves of one character. However, I did take precautions to try and not to make it look that way by giving each brother their own distinct personalities.

For Kenji, the younger brother, I wanted to make him the calmer and more sensible one, who rarely ever loses his cool and usually shows disinterest in everything around him. I felt that this would be contradictory to the fact that usually older brothers are smarter and calmer than their younger siblings, so I went along with it. Unfortunately, this is Kenji's only defining character trait, so there was still a lot to be desired…

Design-wise, he's not based on anyone specific. He was one of the final characters I conceptualized, and as such, I was a bit rushed to throw together what he looked like, so I put together a mishmash of different things, only giving him overly-long sleeves to hide the fact that he was a Zoan-user in the beginning (although I don't know how well that worked).

As stated with Daron, I wanted the Corps of Kings to cover a spectrum of different powers and capabilities, and I decided to give both Kenji and Kaede Zoan fruits. Admittedly, Kenji got the weaker of the two (although it's still an Ancient-type, making it stronger than most Zoan-users), but I still enjoyed it. I felt like Spandam's weapon was a waste of an elephant devil fruit, so I wanted to bring back that animal's sheer power and size for the Straw Hats to contend with.

I feel like Kenji was the least-developed of the Corps of Kings, with Kaede usually given more time to develop his own personality. However, his growth's not quite done yet, as you'll see in the next chapter, so look forward to that!

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	102. Brothers

With Kenji now out of the fight... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**102: Brothers**

The three Straw Hat Pirates—Usopp, Chopper, and Franky—attempted to stand up, but found that none of them had the strength to do so. Franky managed to pull himself to lean against a shattered tree trunk with a frustrated grunt.

"No good…" he muttered. "I used up all my cola with the second Coup de Vent, and I don't have the strength to move anymore…How about you guys?"

Usopp raised his left arm while lying on the ground and said, "The Impact Dial wrecked my right arm and the kickback's got me feelin' drained."

Franky looked to Chopper. "And you?"

Chopper moved a little bit, but said, "Two Rumble Balls has got me finished, sorry guys…"

Franky couldn't help but utter a small laugh and say out loud, "Well, I guess we're pretty screwed then…An angered brother wanting revenge against us, and we don't even have the strength to move. Great…"

Marco looked at the group and said, "Don't worry, I'd be happy to help you guys out."

Kaede wiped the tears from his eyes, gently put Kenji's head down, stood up, and looked at Marco dead-on. "Since the others are fucked anyways, I'm gonna focus on taking you out first. Then, I can take my sweet time with them."

Marco didn't react to this statement and merely said, "That's fine by me. I can only spend so much time here anyways…"

Without missing a beat, Kaede transformed into a full-blown Cerberus and let out a massive roar. "THEN LET'S GO!"

_"Hey, do ya think Mom'll get angry if we're late for dinner?"_

— — —

_Caradin Isle  
5 years ago/1517 AOS_

_A sixteen year old Kaede looked at his fourteen year old brother quizzically, saying, "What do you mean?"_

_Kenji looked down at the ground as they continued to walk towards their home and said, "Well, it's getting close to dinnertime, and I don't think we'll make it before it starts, and that'll give Mom a fit."_

_Kaede stopped, prompting Kenji to follow suit. Kaede patted him on the head and said, "Well if that's the case, then we should hurry home. I bet I can beatcha in a race."_

_A smile appeared on Kenji's face as he said, "You're on!"_

_With that, they both began running, hoping that they would make it back to their house in time for dinner._

_Caradin Isle prior to twenty years ago was no stranger to pirate attacks and invasions. Being stuck on the Grand Line, it was only natural for pirates to come in and take what they needed for supplies. The people used to live in fear of when they would be attacked next, until the World Government claimed the island under their control twenty years ago._

_Seeing the amount of violence pirates caused to the island, the World Government built a base for the Marines right on the island for constant protection. The marine base was put on right in the middle of the island, and ever since, it seemed to ward away pirates for the most part._

_"Hey Kenji, wait up!" Kaede cried to his brother, who was ahead and clearly faster than him._

_They cut through a few buildings in town before three teenagers, roughly Kaede's age, got in front of them and cut Kenji right off. A few seconds later, Kaede caught up and saw what was going on._

_"Well if it isn't the two loser brothers," one of the teenagers chided._

_Kaede cracked a smile and replied, "Well if it isn't the three guys who got their asses whooped by me a thousand times already."_

_This seemed to irk them as the teenager in the middle stepped forward with his fists clenched. He surprisingly smiled and looked at Kenji, who was clearly intimidated by their presence. "Awful noble of you to be hangin' out with your little shithead of a brother; I'm gonna ask again 'cause I'm so nice. Kaede, leave your brother at home and join our gang. With you on our side, even the adults will be afraid of us."_

_"Sorry, but hangin' out with my brother is a lot more fun and interesting," returned Kaede, "with smarter conversations as well."_

_The same teenager spat on the ground, looking back to his two friends. "Well it looks like Kaede's feelin' confident just 'cause his daddy's a big bad marine at the island's base. Whaddya say we teach him a lesson?"_

_The other two teenagers let out a chuckle as Kaede inched closer to Kenji. "You might wanna step back…" he began to whisper._

_One of the teenagers heard that and snapped, slugging Kenji in the side of his face and sending him sprawling to the ground. "By all means you took the effort of hanging out with your brother, so now he's a part of this whether he wants to or not!"_

_"You bastards!" growled Kaede as he leapt towards the closest one, sparking a brawl between them…_

— — —

_Rachael was humming a little tune as she moved the skillet back and forth, the food inside of it crackling due to the heat. She looked up at the clock absent-mindedly and said out loud, "Now where are they…They know better than to—"_

_Then, a knock came on the door. Rachael quickly put the food aside and moved towards it quickly. When she opened it, she revealed both Kenji and Kaede standing there, both with smiles on their face, and both with black eyes and cuts and bruises on their faces._

_"Uhh…" Kaede started, rubbing the back of his head and avoiding his mother's gaze. "We kinda got into a fight."_

_A visible vein appeared on Rachael's forehead as she smacked both her sons in the back of the head. "Idiots! That's why you're late for dinner?"_

_A little bit later, all three of them were sitting down at the dinner table getting ready to eat the food Rachael had been cooking. She had calmed down a bit after her initial reaction, as she looked at Kaede, who was happily eating._

_"Honestly, if you're going to get into fights, why must they include your brother?" she asked when she noticed both of them had incurable grins on their faces._

_Kaede shoved some food into his mouth before saying, "It's not like I'm the one starting them. Those three boneheads just won't give up, and I tried to get Kenji outta it, but Mom, you shoulda seen him. When I started fighting, he jumped right in there like a real champ. Didn'tcha Kenji?"_

_Kenji chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I couldn't just let Kaede fight against them alone. I mean, there were _three_ of them!"_

_The vein appeared on Rachael's forehead again as she threw her silverware at the two in unison. "That doesn't make it right. If you're confronted into a fight, you try and talk your way outta it or get away from them!"_

_Kaede rubbed his head where he was hit and retorted, "But Mom, how are we ever gonna be tough marines if we run away from fights?"_

_Rachael sighed and said, "I don't want either of you to become marines, it's too dangerous."_

_"But Dad's a marine and—" Kenji started._

_"Your father understands the danger he faces and he risked his life to become the Captain of this base so he could be closer to his family," Rachael quickly cut off, silencing Kenji._

_Kaede mumbled to himself, "If that's the case, then why isn't he here right now eating dinner with us?"_

_Unfortunately for Kaede, his mother's sharp ears heard him as she quickly replied, "You know your father, he upholds justice above all else, and being the head officer on this island puts a lot of demands on him."_

_Kaede smiled as he stood up on his chair, throwing out a quick fist and saying, "When I become a marine, I'm not gonna settle for some desk job. I'm gonna be out on the high seas and beating up pirates, just like me and Kenji did to those three goons earlier today."_

_Surprisingly, Rachael didn't overreact, but smiled, put her hand to her head, and then stood up, taking her plate and walking towards the sink saying, "I swear, sometimes I think I'm gonna outlive my own foolish children. Now come on, put your plates away and wash up for bed."_

_Kenji moaned and said, "Mom, can't we—"_

_The vein reappeared as she quickly turned around and said, "BED!"_

_Both Kaede and Kenji were frightened so much at this that they very quickly washed their plates and hurried upstairs._

— — —

_Caradin Isle was so small that it simply consisted of one town, known as Grengan Village; albeit, it was a rather large town, though that didn't stop most of the civilians there from knowing each other very well, especially the children. _

_Kenji and Kaede spent most of their days like every other kid in Grengan Village: going to school for most of the day, then hanging out with their friends for the rest of the day until it was time to go home where they ate dinner and went to sleep._

_As such, the next day after Kenji and Kaede's scuffle with the three bullies went just along that schedule. However, an event after school changed up their normal rigmarole, and it all started when they were going to their friend Michael's house._

_When they got there, they saw that Michael was standing out in front of the house with his mother, and it appeared as if the door was kicked in. The two brothers decided to find out what happened, so they got closer to investigate._

_"What happened?" Kaede asked Michael when they were close enough._

_Michael and his mother looked at the two as Michael's mom burst into tears. Michael patted her soothingly on the back and said to his friend, "Someone broke into our house while I was at school and my mom was shopping."_

_"They took everything of value," sniffed Michael's mother. _

_Michael patted her on the back again as she burst into a new round of tears as he continued, "I managed to get a quick glimpse at them while I was walking home from school, but they were just finishing up and I didn't see who they were."_

_"Kaede…" Kenji said, looking at his brother as he rubbed his chin in thought._

_Finally, he asked, "What direction did they take off to?"_

_"Huh?" started Michael. "Oh, uh…they were running into the northeast end of town, I think…"_

_Kaede nodded as he said, "Don't worry; I'll go see what's up!"_

_With that, he sprinted away from the house. Kenji looked in shock as he immediately went to follow his brother, saying, "Kaede, wait up!"_

_Kenji was able to catch up to him and was panting as he asked, "What are you doing? I don't think we should get involved in this."_

_Kaede looked at his brother and said, "A true marine never turns away from a problem. I have a hunch as to where they went, and I'm gonna go check it out!"_

_Kenji sighed as he followed his hot-headed brother towards the northeast end of town. Finally, Kaede stopped right in front of a bar called "The Ale's Fancy," where Kenji looked at Kaede and asked, "Here?"_

_Kaede nodded. "I'm willing to bet bandits broke into Michael's house, and if there's any place bandits love to hang out, it's here."_

_Without another word, Kaede opened the door of "The Ale's Fancy" with Kenji following, muttering something incomprehensible. The smell of smoke immediately hit the brothers, as no one even seemed to notice the two. They immediately walked up to the bar where they both sat down and ordered "flat water" (as Kaede put it)._

_The bartender eyed the two suspiciously, but gave them what they wanted anyways, not really caring either way. While sipping on their drinks, Kaede looked around and scanned the area._

_"Come on Kaede," pleaded Kenji. "They're not in here and if we stay here too long then—"_

_"Yeah, it wasn't hard at all bustin' into that place!" they both heard a man say, cutting Kenji off. "And I tell ya, they had a fair amount of valuables in there too. Who woulda thought it was so easy to steal from these townsfolk. They must be the dumbest pack of people around, grahahahaha!"_

_Both brothers immediately looked to the table where the loud boasts were coming from and saw a sizeable man with a long scraggly brown beard who was guzzling a large quantity of ale while a group of men sat around him. The most important piece of information, however, was the large bulging sack placed down next to the man._

_Kenji and Kaede both picked up on this, as Kenji took another sip of his water and said, "Alright, we've found out who they are, so let's go report them to the marines and—"_

_"Hey, you, where'dja get that sack, huh?" Kaede immediately asked, standing up to the man._

"Idiot!"_ thought Kenji immediately._

_The man eyed Kaede with a confused look and asked, "The fuck are you, kid? Get outta here!"_

_Kaede didn't bother responding, as he was immediately on his knees and rummaging through the sack. "Hey!" the man called out. "Get outta there, kid!"_

_"Aha!" Kaede said. "I recognize these items from Michael's house." He stood up and looked at the man saying, "I've found you out, bandit!"_

_"Bandit?" the man asked with a hiccup. He looked at his men and asked, "Did he just call us bandits?"_

_All of the men let out a laugh as the man turned back to the confused Kaede and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him close enough for Kaede to smell his alcohol-laden breath. "Now listen here, punk! My name's Reggie Fargore, and I ain't no fuckin' bandit! To think that I am is an insult to piracy itself!"_

_"Pirate?" replied Kaede immediately. "How the hell could a pirate get onto the island anymore? There hasn't been any pirates since twenty years ago."_

_Fargore let out a roaring laugh as he threw Kaede to the floor and stomped on the fallen sixteen-year-old's chest, causing him to grunt in pain. "It's pretty easy when you recently took over a Revolutionary's ship and used it as a disguise for a merchant vessel!"_

_"Kaede!" cried Kenji, immediately getting up and going towards his fallen brother._

_While Fargore was still laughing, an enraged Kaede stood up and tackled him straight in the stomach, sending both of them colliding on the table. Everyone in the bar immediately looked at this as Fargore's men pulled Kaede off of their captain._

_Fargore rubbed his stomach tenderly as he reached for the cutlass at his side, brandishing it in front of Kaede with a dangerous glint in his eye. "I'll show you what happens when you mess with me!"_

_Before he could attack Kaede, someone stepped in and punched Fargore right in the side of his face, sending him to the floor with a thud. He immediately looked up and asked, "Who—"_

_"You must think you're a big man, while still fighting with children," the man who punched Fargore said, standing protectively in front of Kaede. "Pirates like you make me sick!"_

_Fargore rubbed his cheek as he looked at his men, ordering, "Get him!"_

_All of his men pulled out their weapons and rushed at the man, who simply stood his ground and smirked at all of the oncoming men, an air of confidence residing around him…_

— — —

_"…And stay the fuck out!" the owner of "The Ale's Fancy" said as he threw Reggie Fargore and all of his men out of his bar._

_Fargore looked at everyone in the bar with a hateful look, but mostly at Kaede and Kenji, who started all of this. While walking away, Fargore looked to the man closest to him and said, "Find out everything you can about those kids…I'll be sure to make them pay!"_

_When they were gone, the man who protected Kaede from Fargore handed the brothers the sack containing Michael's family belongings. "Be sure to give it back to him, ya hear?" he asked._

_Kaede beamed widely and said, "Don't worry about that, Mr.…"_

_The man smiled and said, "My name's Victor, how about you two?"_

_"I'm Kaede, and he's Kenji," he said, pointing to himself and then his brother._

_Victor let out a laugh and said, "Well you two were pretty helpful yourselves, weren't you, joining the fight with me against those pirates almost immediately."_

_They both let out earnest laughs and scratched the back of their heads. "It was nothing," Kenji said. "We should be thanking you for helping us out. Without you, we surely would have been killed."_

_Kaede hit Kenji lightly on the back of his head and said, "A marine fears nothing, not even death!"_

_"Ho, so you wanna be marines then, eh?" inquired Victor._

_Kaede nodded and said, "Yes, sir. As soon as I'm eighteen I'm gonna go and enlist."_

_Victor smiled while saying, "Well, it's good to have ambitions. Now go on then, it's getting dark out and you should return those things before it gets really late."_

_Both brothers noticed the time and nodded, leaving the front of "The Ale's Fancy."_

_"Thanks again!" Kenji called as they both walked away._

_Kaede nodded, agreeing with his brother. "Yeah, thanks Victor. I hope we see you again sometime!"_

_Victor waved and when they were out of sight, he sighed and smiled, scratching the back of his head and saying, "Those kids really are something…"_

* * *

A fateful meeting...

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	103. Brothers 2: Baptism by Fire

After their meeting with Victor... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**103: Brothers 2- Baptism by Fire**

_Things seemed to settle down after Kenji and Kaede's run-in with Fargore, return of Michael's stolen goods, and subsequent meeting with Victor. For a week after the incident, things had gone smoothly and normally for the two brothers with their usual schedule of "go to school, hang out with friends, eat dinner, and go to bed."_

_On the eighth day after the incident, however, things began to change, and it was on that day where Kaede and Kenji both changed forever._

_School had ended for the two, and after spending some time with their friends for about an hour or two, both brothers decided it was time to go home, lest they make their mother angry again. While the two were walking, Kenji looked up and noticed the darkness of the clouds in the sky._

_"You think it's gonna rain?" he asked his brother._

_Kaede looked at him for a second before saying, "Probably, but who really knows?"_

_Kenji held out his hand and right then, he felt a little raindrop hit the palm of his hand. He smiled a bit, knowing he was right, and he quickly looked to Kaede again, saying, "We should probably get home soon before it really starts to pour."_

_Kaede, who was also beginning to feel the rain fall on top of his head, nodded in agreement with Kenji, as they both began to jog (which quickly turned into a full-on sprint when the raindrops increased) towards their house, just wanting to get a hot meal in before relaxing._

_Both Kenji and Kaede were soaked by the time they were in the vicinity of their house, as thunder could even be heard in the distance. However, the rain and thunder was the last thing on both brothers' mind when they looked at their house and both knew something was very wrong._

_Surrounding their house was a large force of marines, all gathered in a circle towards the door. Behind the wall of marines, the sound of someone struggling could be heard. Kenji and Kaede glanced at each other briefly before rushing over and pushing past the marines to find out what was going on._

_When they pushed past the final marine to see what they were all looking at, they saw Rachael, their own mother, handcuffed and being lead out of the house by two men, cursing at them the entire time._

_"Get your hands offa me, do ya hear? You don't know what you're talkin' about!"_

_"MOM!" cried Kaede immediately, rushing towards her with Kenji quickly following._

_Rachael saw her two sons and put on an expression that was a mixture of relief and sadness. She surprisingly smiled, however, and said, "I told you boys not to be late for dinner…"  
"Mom, what the hell is happening?" demanded Kaede._

_"Your mother is being arrested under suspicion of conspiring against the World Government," one of the marines said stoically. _

_Rachael reacted in anger and said to the marine, "I told you, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about! I never have, nor ever will be a part of the Revolutionaries! My husband's a marine officer, for God's sake!"_

_"Quiet," one of the men gruffly said. "You have no right to speak until spoken too. Now come on, let's get her back to the base."_

_"No!" Kaede roared, immediately rushing at the two men holding his mother._

_He was able to tackle one to the ground before several marines appeared behind him and forced him off. Kaede was kicking and cursing wildly before one marine finally stepped forward and hit him hard in his stomach, winding him and stopping his struggles completely._

_The marines immediately saluted to the man who hit Kaede, as one said, "Captain Bradley, we have obtained the prisoner, as you asked."_

_Rachael, Kenji, and Kaede immediately looked up at this statement, before Kenji finally said, "Dad…"_

_Captain Bradley—Kenji and Kaede's father and Rachael's husband—looked at Kaede with disappointment and said, "I expected you to act more appropriately, son…"_

_"Dad, they're arresting Mom!" Kaede immediately said, working himself up into a frenzy again. "You can't let them do this!"_

_"I can and I will," replied the humorless Captain. He then looked at Rachael and said, "We had gotten a recent report of someone saying they found you engaging with suspicious activities and suggesting we investigate it."_

_Rachael looked at her husband and said softly, "I would have thought you of all people, Brad, would try and plead my innocence, but it looks like you put the order out yourself…"_

_"I _did_ try to," Bradley quickly replied, reaching into his back pocket, "until we found this in the house."_

_He held up a sheet of paper and tried his best to shield it from the onslaught of rain pouring down. Rachael, Kaede, and Kenji strained to see what it said, but Bradley answered their questions for them. _

_"This document clearly states where the meetings, liberations, and supplies of all the Revolutionaries under the order of Dragon himself. This was hidden in your room and was clearly meant for the Caradin Isle."_

_Everyone was silent as Bradley put the paper away and turned away from his wife and children. _

_Finally, he continued: "It reveals chilling news of the liberation of this island, to free it from the World Government's grasp, but I never would have thought they'd have someone working on the inside to help them."_

_"Oh come on, Brad!" shouted Rachael. "Is my name anywhere on that sheet of paper? I told you I have no idea where it came from!"_

_Bradley quickly turned around and replied, "Of course your names not on that sheet of paper! The Revolutionaries keep the names of their operative's secret on their paper trail in case something like this happens!"_

("it's pretty easy when you recently took over a Revolutionary's ship and used it as a disguise for a merchant vessel!")

_There was anger in Kaede's voice when he asked, "Who was the one who tipped you off about this?"_

_The marines all looked at their Captain inquisitively, before Bradley closed his eyes and said, "That's none of your business."_

_"IT WAS ALL A SET UP!" shouted Kaede, struggling from the marine's grip yet again. "A MAN NAMED REGGIE FARGORE WAS THE ONE WHO WOULD HAVE ACCESS TO A DOCUMENT LIKE THAT! HE'S A PIRATE WHO STOLE A REVOLUTIONARY'S SHIP!"_

_"Pirate?" questioned one of the marines with a chuckle. "There hasn't been a pirate on this island for twenty years, kid!" _

_"Dad, you can't really be doing this!" cried Kenji, tears coming from his eyes. "There's no way Mom's trying to hurt the island!"_

_Bradley put his head down at the ground and said, "The evidence is clear, and justice must be upheld. That's why you're under arrest Rachael, and will be tried as a traitor to the World Government."_

_Rachael merely shook her head in disappointment and said quietly, "You're such a fool, Brad…To do this to our children…"_

_Bradley looked at his two sons and said, "Come with me, boys. You'll be placed at the base for now until we can get all of this sorted out."_

_"NO!" Kaede roared, kicking one of the marine's holding him in the shin, causing him to grunt in pain and let go._

_Kaede was quickly able to break his grip on the other marine after that and immediately rushed towards Kenji, grabbing his arm and saying, "Let's go!"_

_"Kenji, Kaede, wait!" shouted Captain Bradley as the two brothers sprinted away from the group of marines._

_Rachael, meanwhile, simply remained quiet, even as her two sons disappeared out of sight from the marines under the cold rain._

— — —

_They sprinted for who knew how long before they both finally stopped to catch their breath. They took shelter under an awning so they wouldn't get more wet than they had to._

_Kenji looked up at his brother with terror clearly in his eyes. "So what do we do now?"_

_Kaede took a few seconds to catch his breath, but was silent for quite a long time. Finally, he looked at his brother and gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry; it'll all work out in the end. What we gotta do now, though, might seem kinda drastic."_

_"What?"_

_Kaede heaved a few more times before saying, "We gotta get Mom outta that marine base."_

_"WHAT?" reacted Kenji almost immediately. "Are you stupid?"_

_Kaede shook his head and earnestly replied, "No, I'm thinkin' it all out in my head."_

_"What good would that do anyways?" inquired Kenji. "All they would do is capture her again and put her back in the base as their prisoner—along with us!"_

_"Think for a second, will you?" Kaede quickly retorted. "Right now the marines don't believe us when I say Fargore's a pirate, but given enough time, I can definitely prove it to them."_

_Kenji shrugged and said, "So why not do that and prove Mom innocent instead of trying to break her out?"_

_Kaede sighed. "I don't know how much time Mom actually has. Knowing the World Government's stance on Revolutionaries, we won't have a lot of time to actually prove her innocence. If we bust her out first, then we can take all the time we need to prove Fargore caused this."_

_"You don't even _know_ if Fargore caused this!" shouted Kenji, trying to talk some sense into his older brother._

_Kaede shook his head at this statement. "I know, trust me, Kenji. Now come on, it's our job as mari—as heroes to do this."_

_Kenji looked at the ground and said quietly, "I dunno…"_

_Kaede clasped his brother's shoulder and smiled at him. "It'll all work out, trust me. But we gotta act fast. Now which way is the marine base?"_

— — —

_Kaede had dreamt of becoming a marine so many times that he would often go and marvel at the Caradin Isle Marine Base any chance he got to fuel his fantasy even more. However, tonight underneath the rainy sky, he and Kenji approached the base with a completely different purpose._

_They quickly clung to the wall, hoping not to run into any guards. Finally, they reached the spot they wanted, as Kaede touched the wall and said, "Aha, here it is!"_

_At that specific point into the wall of the base, there was a rather large crack that went down in a vertical pattern, causing a small split. Kaede smiled at this as he put his foot inside the crack to get some grounding._

_"I've observed the training grounds several times by using this," he explained to his brother quickly. "Now follow me quietly, ya hear?"_

_Kenji nodded as Kaede began to climb. As he got climbed higher and the rain splattered on his face more and more, he could hear voices rising from the inside of the wall. Quickening his pace, he finally reached the top of the wall and peered over it._

_There, his worst fears were confirmed._

_At the very end of the courtyard where the marines usually train and right in front of the actual buildings of the base, there stood a large scaffold where Kaede knew they generally tried and punished criminals. There, on that very scaffold, he saw Rachael, chained up with her head down, to both sides of her were marines with weapons, and right next to them all was Captain Bradley_

("you know your father, he upholds justice above all else, and being the head officer on this island puts a lot of demands on him")

_with an emotionless look on his face, holding a sheet of paper in his hand. Upon closer inspection to Kaede, it looked as if his hands were shaking while holding the document._

_Kenji got up right next to his brother as they both peered over the wall down at the courtyard, too stunned to move, although subconsciously they both knew doing anything else would do no good, so they just stayed there, peering over the wall to watch what was going to happen._

_"In light of the danger that Dragon the Revolutionary actually poses," Captain Bradley finally said to all the marines down at the courtyard, "the World Government has issued a new law regarding any revolutionary member." He let out a visible gulp before saying, "If any evidence is shown that a citizen is actually a member of the Revolutionaries, he or she is to be put to death…immediately."_

_There were murmurs in the courtyard as Kenji and Kaede both looked at each other, yet neither still moving, neither _able_ to move._

_"Therefore…" continued Bradley, "we are here to put this woman to death, for the crime of conspiring against the World Government and actively participating in plans to invade the island." He looked at his wife, chained to the scaffold, regret in his voice. "Do you have any last words…"_

_Rachael looked straight up at Bradley and said, "Think of what you did to our children…" She then fell quiet._

_Then, the act of execution was carried out, and Kenji and Kaede only caught a glimpse of it before both of them stumbled from the wall and landed on the soft mud beneath them, the rain still being unrelenting upon them._

_Kaede looked visibly shaken as he stood up quickly, before collapsing to the ground again and vomiting. Kenji simply lied on the ground in shock at what just happened. After several minutes of silence, Kaede finally stood up and stormed away from the marine base._

_Kenji took note of this and stood up, following him and asking in a shaky voice, "W-Where are you going?"_

_Kaede seethed as he gritted his teeth and said decisively, "I'm gonna go kill Fargore!"_

_"Wait!" Kenji said, catching up to him. "We should think about this fi—"_

_"WHAT'S THERE TO THINK ABOUT?" demanded Kaede. _

_That ended the conversation as Kenji followed Kaede towards the docks._

— — —

_"Grahahahaha!" laughed Captain Reggie Fargore inside of the revolutionary ship for cover from the storm while taking a swig of alcohol. "Who woulda thought it would be so easy to make money off of something that simple!"_

_He reached into the sack of gold on the table before taking another swig of alcohol. "Those marines will pay anything for information!"_

_One of his men looked at Fargore and said with urgency, "Captain, we should get out of this place before the storm gets any worse!"_

_Fargore let out another laugh before finally saying, "Alright, alright, let's get outta here before anyone gets suspicious."_

_Three quick knocks came on the door, causing everyone inside to look at it with curiosity._

— — —

_"Alright, this is the only ship I don't recognize!" Kaede said to his brother. "This has to be the one!"_

_Kaede stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the ship he was looking for, feeling a sense of unease. Rain battered his face as he and Kenji boarded the deathly-quiet vessel. When they got to the deck, they suddenly understood their ominous feeling._

_On the deck of the stolen revolutionary ship lied the bodies of every member under Fargore's command, a lone man standing at the center of the massacre. Without a word, Kaede and Kenji silently strode across the deck towards the lone man._

_The man looked at the two and revealed himself to be Victor. _

_"How did you…" started Kenji in a bit of shock._

_"I heard all the ruckus earlier," Victor quickly replied, "along with your outburst there Kaede. I decided to check it out, and when Fargore and his men got violent on me, I had no choice…"_

_Kaede looked down and saw the body of Reggie Fargore, before he looked back up at Victor's stony expression. _

_"Do you still wanna be a marine?" Victor finally asked._

_Kaede looked at Kenji quickly before shaking his head. "No, the marines are weak. I sensed regret and remorse in my father's voice when he arrested and executed my mother, but he wasn't a big enough of a man to do anything. The World Government intimidated him into that way of thinking, and I can never forgive them for that."_

_Victor grinned wolfishly and said, "That's just the kind of attitude I've been looking for. Why don't you join me and my crew to stop such injustice."_

_Kenji glanced at Kaede nervously with an unsure look, before finally closing his eyes and nodding. With that confirmation, Kaede looked at Victor and asked, "Is your crew strong?"_

_"Strong enough to do what needs to be done, I assure you."_

_"Then let's go," Kaede said. "I don't want to have anything to do with this island or my father anymore."_

_Victor nodded, then rummaged through his bag and pulled out a small chest. "Before we go, I have something for you."_

_He opened the chest to reveal two devil fruits inside. Kenji and Kaede stared at them with a shine in their eyes. "Go on and take them," he said._

_They both complied, each taking a devil fruit._

_"Though I must warn you," Victor said, "once you eat these devil fruits, then you're bound to my crew and there's no going back. Take some time to think about it if you must."_

_Rain splattered on the shiny devil fruits in each brother's hand, while they both looked at each other intently. Finally, Kenji closed his eyes and nodded. "We don't need time to decide," Kenji said. "We want to get revenge on the World Government, Marines, and Pirates, if you can offer that, then we'll gladly serve under you."_

_Victor grinned yet again. "Then by all means, take a bite."_

_That was all the brothers needed to take their devil fruits and eat them._

* * *

Birth of the Mastodon and Cerberus.

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	104. The Cerberus

With Kaede's tale now told... Enjoy!

**Happy New Year's everybody!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**104: The Cerberus**

"The World Government had complete power over Caradin Isle and I was oblivious to it!" Kaede mused before he went to strike at Marco. "It went under the façade of justice, when there was nothing but with those marines, and someone died because of it!"

_("I swear, sometimes I think I'm gonna outlive my own foolish children")_

Franky looked at Usopp and Chopper with a confused look before asking, "What's he talking about?" They both only offered shrugs.

"Relax, he's just working himself into a frenzy," replied the unusually-calm Marco.

Kaede disregarded their comments as he seemed to now only focus on the unconscious Kenji next to him. "So we changed our plans. Instead of becoming marines or joining that farce of a revolution under Dragon, we would deal justice in our own way! We owed that to her!"

With that, Kaede charged straight at Marco. The Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates transformed his arms into phoenix wings and took to the sky to avoid his attack. Marco expected Kaede to stop in his tracks, but much to his chagrin and surprise, Kaede kept on charging straight towards the fallen Franky.

"Damn!" cursed the Phoenix as he quickly flew between the two.

Kaede let out a snarling laugh as he was able to ram right into the defenseless Marco, and using one of his three heads, took a large bite down on his shoulder. Marco grunted in pain and coughed out blood before Kaede threw him into the sky and sent him flying to the ground.

Before Marco could even hit the ground, however, Kaede rushed towards him quickly and was able to rake his back with his fearsome claws, warranting another scream out of Marco.

"We gotta help him!" Franky said to his crewmates, who nodded in agreement.

Franky quickly aimed his left arm at Kaede and fired a cannonball, yelling, "Weapons Left!"

"Firebird Star!" shouted Usopp.

"Remember, hit under his chins!" Chopper shouted, that being the only help he could offer in his current state.

Usopp and Franky's attacks flew towards Kaede and hit him, but it was obvious that it did not harm him, and he simply ignored it. Marco, meanwhile, was struggling to get up underneath Kaede's gargantuan presence.

"I'm not giving you a chance to regenerate," the Cerberus said humorlessly. "So I'll have to finish this quickly!"

"I was thinking the same thing," replied Marco.

Then, without warning, Marco transformed his arms into phoenix talons and quickly launched them straight upwards towards Kaede's right dog head. The talons were so sharp they were able to pierce his skin and go straight through his chin. All three of Kaede's heads let out a roar of pain, as he quickly pulled away, Marco's talons pulling away and covered in blood.

"The skin's pretty soft there," Marco commented to Kaede with a smirk.

While Kaede was reeling in pain at the Phoenix's newest attack, Marco took the opportunity to surround himself with blue flames, recovering the wounds he had accrued from Kaede's barrage. Not letting up there, Marco transformed into his hybrid mode and rushed towards his enemy.

Kaede was recovered by now, however, as he quickly turned towards Marco and shot lava out of his two uninjured heads. Thinking fast, Marco threw a large shield of blue flames right in front of him, hitting the lava straight on and protecting him from damage.

Marco grinned at this as he continued barreling towards Kaede. The Cerberus, however, was more prepared than Marco thought, quickly bringing one of his massive blunt paws straight towards Marco's side and smashing him in the side of his face, sending him flying to the floor with a groan.

"We gotta help him!" Chopper roared, slowly standing up.

The other two Straw Hats took Chopper's lead and also began to slowly (and painfully) stand on their feet. Kaede didn't seem to mind, as he knew they couldn't do much to harm him. His real enemy was Marco, and he intended to focus all of his attention on him.

_"He's locked me down to land because if I even try to fly, he'll just go after the others,"_ Marco thought while on the ground. _"I have to go through this situation delicately, since it's not likely he'll open up his weak-point like that again…"_

Marco didn't have anymore time to think as Kaede let out another massive roar before rushing towards him. The Phoenix quickly hopped to his feet and turned into his full phoenix mode. "Fine, let's go!" he said, flying low to the ground and barreling towards the Cerberus.

Kaede let out a snarl and attempted to swipe at Marco, but he flew slightly higher and was able to rake Kaede across the back with his talons, causing Kaede to roar in pain. Chopper took this opportunity to transform into his Heavy Point and rush towards Kaede, cocking his fist back and striking his left head right in the jaw.

"Heavy Gong!"

Kaede reacted in pain at this, but quickly sent his paw smashing against Chopper's side, causing him to fly to the ground in pain. "You bastard!" Usopp said, aiming his Kabuto from long-distance. "Sunflower Star!"

Five pellets flew towards Kaede as all struck him, yet didn't seem to affect him. He quickly glared at Usopp with a grimace on his face, and before Usopp could move, he shot out a large amount of lava towards him.

"Usopp, look out!" Franky cried.

Usopp found that he couldn't move, but thankfully, a hybrid-form Marco dove in and tackled Usopp to the ground, taking the brunt of the lava on his back. He coughed in pain, but still looked at Usopp and said, "Please stay out of this; you'll only get yourself more injured."

Usopp feverishly nodded as Marco leapt away from him and rushed towards Kaede again. "Only one chance at this," Marco said to himself as Kaede prepared himself for a counterattack.

Right when Marco was a few inches away from Kaede, the Cerberus felt himself freeze up and unable to move. This allowed Marco to leap right under Kaede and launch his claws straight under the chin on his left head. He pulled out quickly as Kaede stepped back in pain, but Marco didn't stop as he leapt into the air and clawed at Kaede's middle head.

Finally, Kaede felt like he could move again as he shot his paw straight at Marco's back, sending him to the floor. Marco quickly rolled out of the way from Kaede's next attack, and stood up a few feet away from him, both fighters breathing heavily and staring at each other in the eyes.

Finally, Kaede transformed from his full Cerberus mode, into his hybrid mode with only a single head, breathing heavily as Marco said, "Looks like all the wounds you've gotten are piling up."

"Shut the fuck up," Kaede said through his pants. "I'm still strong enough to take you out."

Marco tilted his head and asked, "Why are you fighting so hard? Is all this really worth it?"

"You'd never understand," Kaede replied. "Me and Kenji owe Victor everything. He took away the veil clouding our eyes and showed us the true horrors that pirates and the World Government could cause, and gave us enough power to stop it. So yes, if Victor is able to carry out our goals even without us, it's worth it!"

Marco sighed and said, "I guess there's no talking you out of it then…"

"Stop talking and let's end this!" Kaede roared.

Both fighters rushed straight towards each other in their hybrid-forms and met in the middle, grappling each other immediately. Kaede dug his Cerberus claws into Marco's shoulders while Marco did the same with his phoenix talons. After a few seconds, Kaede brought his head smashing down on Marco's in a fierce and quick head-butt, causing Marco to release his grip and step away.

Kaede smirked as he used this opportunity to throw a powerful kick straight towards Marco's stomach, winding him and causing him to double-over in pain. Kaede quickly raised his paws high up and was about to bring them smashing down on Marco's exposed back, but the Phoenix was quicker than him as he was able to launch his claws straight at Kaede's exposed chest, rending him with his claws.

Now it was Kaede's turn to take a step back, and Marco used that opportunity to send a powerful kick to the side of Kaede's head, sending him smashing to the floor. While the Cerberus was grounded, Marco covered himself in blue flames, healing all of his wounds.

Kaede saw this and cursed at him. "You son of a bitch, your regeneration is not making this a fair fight!"

Marco raised an eyebrow at this statement. "Fair fight? I'm a pirate; I don't do fair fights."

This comment sent Kaede over the edge as he snarled and threw himself towards Marco, tackling him straight to the ground. Moving quickly, Kaede slugged Marco several times in the face before he finally grabbed Kaede's back and threw him off. Kaede did a quick roll on the ground before quickly recovering and getting back on his feet.

"Just give up already," Marco said. "If you go any further, you'll die."

"I said shut the fuck up!" Kaede roared back, rushing towards Marco yet again.

Before he could reach Marco, Kaede opened his mouth and shot out a large amount of lava. Marco quickly avoided it by rolling to the side, but was able to kick Kaede hard in his chest before Kaede could strike him. The Cerberus spat out blood as he gripped his stomach.

Marco quickly got to his feet and transformed one of his claws into his normal hand. He cocked his fist back and punched Kaede square in his eye, sending his head lolling back and him falling on his back.

"This is just…brutal," commented Franky, watching the whole thing.

Marco stopped his barrage of attacks and simply stood there, waiting for Kaede to slowly rise up, gripping his newly-wounded eye.

"You pirates are all alike," Kaede spat out in a drawling voice. "You don't care about anyone but yourselves, and you'd sell out your friends in a second if you thought it would make you a profit…"

Marco shrugged and simply replied, "Some pirates are like that, some aren't. It's hard to label the whole group of pirates as one thing."

Kaede let out a small laugh before becoming dead serious and yelling, "Pirates have caused the suffering of thousands of innocents and ruined their lives over it

_("grahahahaha!" laughed Captain Reggie Fargore. "who woulda thought it would be so easy to make money off of something that simple!")_

yet you stand here and tell me differently? FUCK YOU! ALL PIRATES DESERVE TO DIE IN THE NAME OF TRUE JUSTICE!"

Marco sighed as he scratched the back of his head and said solemnly, "Make your final move then…I'll be sure to end it here."

Then, without warning, Kaede suddenly dropped to his knees, surprise stamped all over his face. "What…"

Marco relaxed his guard while Chopper looked and said, "Looks like your body finally stopped listening to your mind. You're exhausted, and your body simply can't take anymore…"

"God…dammit…" Kaede cursed before falling to the floor on his stomach.

With Kaede grounded and no longer moving, Usopp, Chopper, and Franky converged at Marco, all four of them looking at the fallen Kenji and Kaede. "So, it's finally over?" Usopp felt compelled to ask.

Franky nodded, saying, "It seems that way; it was a close fight…"

Marco nodded, yet said nothing.

Kaede the Cerberus, however, barely gripping onto consciousness, caught one last glimpse of his fallen brother before his eyes closed on him. Before he lost complete consciousness, he had one final thought:

_"Sorry Victor…I failed you…"_

— — —

Victor D. Capere was at the wheel of _Harbinger_, steering it and looking idly ahead of him while Tobias sat on the deck with his eyes closed in apparent meditation, and Big Mom was still chained to the mast, surprisingly not struggling.

"There's a nice breeze…" Victor commented, causing Tobias to look at him inquisitively. Victor grinned at him as he said, "I hope everyone else could feel it back on Spectrum Island."

"Hardly a consolation, it seems," Tobias commented, "for them being abandoned on the island and left to deal with the Straw Hats."

Victor kept his grin as he simply replied, "It's a small price to pay, and they should be happy to pay it. After all, it is thanks to them that we've got smooth sailing straight towards Raftel."

Tobias looked behind _Harbinger_ and pointed in that direction. "It seems like it wasn't that easy…"

Victor looked behind him to see the _Thousand Sunny_ in the distance, clearly on the same course as they are. Victor couldn't help but mutter, "It seems like I was too optimistic about the Corps of Kings fighting capabilities…"

"What should we do?" inquired Tobias.

Victor surprisingly smirked as he looked back at the Dreamer, answering, "We're going to do nothing. Trust me, where we're going, they don't stand a chance."

Big Mom flinched.

"What do you mean by that?" asked the curious Tobias.

Victor pointed in front of him towards the silhouette of Raftel, saying, "See for yourself."

Tobias did as instructed and for a brief second, his usually stoic face was replaced with that of surprise. Right in front of _Harbinger_ and clearly in their present course, was an innumerable amount of maelstroms. There were so many that it covered the entire span of the sea so that there was no way to avoid it. The maelstroms were tightly packed together and letting out a deafening noise as they hungrily sucked up the water into their massive swirling maws.

"What?" was all Tobias could utter.

"It was coined as Raftel's Last Defense by none other than Gold Roger," Victor explained. "Maelstroms so powerful that they could crush a giant with ease, and so many that it's impossible to avoid."

Tobias didn't grace Victor with an answer, simply stared at the marvel known as Raftel's Last Defense.

"Reason number three I wanted a ship made of Adam Wood," laughed Victor. "Only ships made of the strongest wood could stand a chance against such a power. And guess what, my dear Tobias, we're going straight through it, and if Straw Hat is crazy enough, he will too!"

* * *

A chase through the maelstroms!

**Behind the Character (11): Kaede**

The other half of the two brothers, I designed Kaede to be the more dominant of the two, thus making him the elder sibling (although he is only twenty-one). His design, like Kenji's, was rushed at the last minute, so there was no set model. The only thing I knew for sure when I designed him was what hairstyle he had, but other than that, he was made on the fly.

Personality-wise, if Kenji was the more rational and sensible one, then Kaede was definitely the more hotheaded and battle-happy one, to give them a sort of yin and yang thing and helping their team dynamic. Other than that, it was revealed that he once had a selfless and heroic nature, but it was jaded due to his past, which made him into the man that he is today.

Speaking of his past, despite the fact that it was depressing (for obvious reasons), I rather enjoyed writing it, simply because it had a different vibe to it than what One Piece is usually about (although upon further inspection, all the Straw Hats backgrounds are depressing as well).

When I designed them as the "Zoan Pair," I knew that I would use an Ancient Zoan Type and a Mythical Zoan Type. Kenji obviously got the Ancient Zoan, so Kaede got the Mythical Cerberus fruit. I rather enjoyed this fruit, but I found myself struggling in his battle with Marco due to the fact that Marco could easily recover his wounds and Kaede couldn't. However, I think I did a fairly good job with their fight, and I enjoyed the more brutal nature it eventually came down to in the end.

I guess I'm just weird like that…

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	105. Ironic Sign of Ending

Going through Raftel's last defense! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**105: Ironic Sign of Ending**

"There they are!" shouted an ecstatic Straw Hat Luffy, looking ahead to see Victor's ship _Harbinger_. "We're catching up to them!"

"Take it easy, they're still a long way off," Nami said, looking at the ship through binoculars.

Nami's words fell on deaf ears as Luffy constantly paced back and forth and cracked his knuckles, eager to have his final confrontation with Victor (and the fact that they were heading to Raftel seemed to help).

"Once I beat Victor, I can finally become King of the Pirates!" roared Luffy, throwing his fists into the air and shouting into the sky.

Nico Robin chuckled at this and said, "That's the spirit…"

"Hey, Robin, careful!" shouted Nami towards the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_. "I told you to raise the sails higher so we can catch more wind!"

Robin looked apologetic and said, "Apologies, Miss Navigator. I'll get on that right away. Veinte Fleurs!"

Twenty arms appeared on the mast of the _Thousand Sunny_ as they all quickly went to work, pulling on the ropes and raising the sail even higher, propelling the ship a little bit. Luffy ignored all of this and continued to stare at the _Harbinger_, thinking intently on what he was going to do once he finally caught up with them…

— — —

"Those fools are going to their deaths," smirked Victor D. Capere. "There's only one set path a ship could take through this minefield of maelstroms and not get destroyed."

Tobias went back to his meditative state and asked calmly, "And you know the path to take?"

"Why of course I do, dear Tobias. After all, who better would know such a path than one who was on Gold Roger's crew himself. Even with their skillful navigator it won't be enough," stated the gleeful Victor.

Big Mom was silent—like she was the entire trip—but was quietly working on the chains that surrounded her on the mast, constantly shifting and fidgeting, yet not enough to garner either Victor or Tobias's attention.

_"Almost there…"_ she thought absentmindedly as she went through her work. _"Just a little bit more…"_

"After this field of death, however," Victor continued, striking up a conversation with Tobias, "you'll see one of the most beautiful sights on this ocean. It truly is a scene to behold…"

Tobias nodded and simply said, "I can't wait…"

"THERE!" Big Mom shouted, busting through the chains surrounding her and freeing her, catching both Tobias and Victor's attention.

The Yonko quickly got up and rushed to the side of the_ Harbinger_. Unfortunately, despite breaking the chains binding her, she was still handcuffed behind her back with a pair of seastone cuffs. Surprisingly, Victor didn't react angrily to this, but had a serene sense of calm.

"Congratulations of getting free, Leila," he said, clapping his hands slowly. "However, with those seastone cuffs on and an ocean surrounding you, you have nowhere to go. So why don't you just get back here and let Tobias chain you up again."

Big Mom scowled at Victor and quickly replied, "Go fuck yourself, Victor! You just plan on killing me once we get to Raftel anyways!"

"True," admitted Victor. "And here I was hoping I could keep you alive enough to perhaps refresh my memory on how to maneuver through the upcoming sea of whirlpools in case my memory got a little fuzzy, but I guess I was asking for too much."

Meanwhile, Tobias was slowly inching closer to her, getting ready to subdue her again. Big Mom noticed this as she slowly inched towards the edge of the ship.

"Come now, there's really nothing you can do," continued the smiling Victor. "So just surrender quietly and we can—"

"I have a better idea!" cut off Big Mom.

Before Tobias could get within striking distance, the Yonko threw herself over the edge of the _Harbinger_, sending herself plunging towards the ocean. Tobias and Victor quickly looked to the edge and saw her falling, as Victor let out a small curse, but said to his companion:

"Let her go, she's dead anyways," Victor replied. "No sense in risking ourselves to try and save her and perhaps drown ourselves. Besides, if the sharks don't get her, then the maelstroms certainly will."

Victor turned away from the side and went back to the wheel of the ship, looking forward at the forest of whirlpools that seemed to be getting closer with every second.

— — —

The _Thousand Sunny_ was drawing closer to its target, but not quick enough for Monkey D. Luffy's liking. The three pirates just recently caught sight of the numerous maelstroms they'd have to soon be going through, upsetting Nami, yet exciting Luffy and surprisingly Robin as well.

"How the hell can you be excited about that?" she asked, tears streaming down her eyes. "I don't think there's any way to go through there and get to the other side!"

Luffy laughed and replied, "Of course there is. Gold Roger did it, didn't he?"

Nami sighed and continued looking through her binoculars. After a few more minutes, she saw something surprising, and called down to Luffy and Robin.

"Guys, I think I see someone falling off the edge of the ship!"

"What?" they both asked at the same time.

They both strained to look, but they clearly saw the image of Big Mom falling over the edge of the _Harbinger_. Acting on instinct, Luffy ordered, "We gotta save him!"

"We don't even know who it is," retorted Nami quickly. "For all we know, it could be one of Victor's men falling over."

"That doesn't matter!" shot Luffy back, quick as lightning. "We can't just let them drown!"

"Besides," butt in the smiling Robin, "if it is one of Victor's men, then we can capture him and get some information."

Nami sighed, but said, "We won't be able to reach him in time anyways."

"Then use Coup de Burst," Luffy said, running towards the front of the ship and looking ahead intently, seeing that Big Mom had already fallen into the water.

"But that would use up our last three remaining barrels of cola and—" started Nami.

"Just do it!"

The navigator recoiled and said, "Fine, fine. Robin!"

"On it," replied the archaeologist, quickly moving on the ship to activate the function. "Coup de Burst!"

The _Thousand Sunny_ then flew forward in a massive motion, soaring through the air and then finally landing very close to where Big Mom had fallen. Moving fast, Luffy looked to Robin, who seemed to know what to do before he leapt over the edge of the ship, going towards the water.

"Wait, Luffy!" started Nami.

"Treinta Fleurs," Robin said calmly, sprouting thirty arms that extended from her arm in a long rope-like fashion. "Hang."

This long extension of arms grabbed onto Luffy's own arm before he fell into the water. Luffy quickly extended his own arm that shot into the ocean. Using Robin's arm as a brace, Luffy flew to the side of the ship and planted himself there, using his stretched arm in the water to grab desperately.

"I got something!" he finally said. "Pull me up, Robin!"

"Aye-Aye, Captain."

Robin used her thirty arms to sent Luffy flying into the air, bringing his stretched arm that grabbed the unconscious form of Big Mom with him, both of them falling to the deck in a heap. Nami quickly hopped down onto the deck to inspect who Luffy saved, and seemed to recognize her almost immediately.

"It's Lola's mom!" she declared.

Robin looked at the Yonko and said, "Interesting…Dos Fleurs."

Two arms sprouted on Big Mom's torso and quickly went to pushing down on her chest, sending a large amount of water ejecting from her mouth. Luffy sat up and said to Nami, asking, "Can you get rid of her seastone cuffs?"

"Hmm?" inquired Nami, looking to see that Big Mom was handcuffed. She quickly shook her head and said, "No, I'm afraid not. Seastone cuffs are nearly impossible to pick."

"I think you should get back to doing what you do best, Miss Navigator," Robin said politely. "We're gonna need your skills if we're to survive what's coming up."

"Oh!" said Nami, remembering that they were now extremely close to the maelstroms. She quickly rushed up and went back to steering the ship.

At this point Big Mom began to stir as she let out a ragged cough and opened her eyes, looking at Robin, and then at Luffy. She saw the hat on the captain's head and asked slowly, "Are you…Straw Hat Luffy?"

Luffy beamed wide, saying, "I sure am! You're Lola's mother, right?"

Big Mom smiled and said, "Yes, I am. But you can call me Big Mom; everyone else does."

"How'd you fall off that ship?" asked the blunt Robin.

Big Mom took this time to sit up and answer, "Well, I _was_ planning on killing myself if only to not give Victor the satisfaction of doing it himself, but I guess I have you guys to thank for saving me."

Luffy laughed and said, "No problem, Big Mom. We're just glad you're safe."

"Uhh…guys," called Nami, "not that I meant to break up your conversation, but I'm going to need your full attention if we're to survive through these maelstroms!"

That snapped Luffy and Robin back to attention, as they quickly rushed to the front of the ship and looked. The _Thousand Sunny_ was just about to enter the field of whirlpools, while it looked like the _Harbinger_ was already about halfway through it.

"Right, what do you need?" asked Luffy.

"I'll need Robin to take the wheel," Nami quickly said, as the archaeologist nodded and happily obliged. "I need to devote my full attention and skills to discerning the best path. There's no room for error here! Luffy, be on hand to do anything I ask!"

"Right!"

After a few seconds, Nami started rapping out orders. "Robin, turn starboard, quickly!"

"No," Big Mom cut in, letting out a small cough as she stood up. "Don't go starboard, go port."

Nami whirred around quickly to look at the Yonko. "What do you mean?"

"I know this route well," replied Big Mom. "Just listen to my directions and I'll make sure you get through this safely."

Nami nodded, deciding not to question her wisdom at such an important time. "Right, Robin, I'll take the wheel back. You be on hand with Luffy to react to anything at any given moment!"

"As you wish…"

With this new reversal, the _Thousand Sunny_ cautiously entered the field of whirling deathtraps. Between each gigantic maelstrom there was a small room for undisturbed ocean, where the ship slowly began to weave through. They couldn't choose the wrong path to go through, however, or else one of the whirlpools currents would overpower the ship and send them into the crushing deep.

Thankfully, Big Mom's directions were true, as the _Thousand Sunny_ was halfway through and they were doing well. Luffy looked out at the front and saw that Victor's ship just got through the field of death and were within distance of Raftel.

Sensing the urgency, he said, "We gotta hurry!"

"Patience," Big Mom cautioned. "This is no easy feat. We're lucky nothing's happened yet. Turn twelve degrees starboard!"

"Roger!" called Nami, quickly obeying the Yonko's order.

Luffy walked over to the side of the _Thousand Sunny_ and stared into one of the massive swirling chasms right next to him, looking like it was about to suck in the ship. Luffy couldn't help but let out a roaring laugh at this.

"What's so funny?" inquired Robin.

"It's just…" Luffy started, "at the beginning of my journey, I was pulled into a whirlpool almost immediately after starting, and now at the end of the journey, they're back!"

"It does seem a bit ironic," agreed Robin.

"Robin, pay attention!" Nami called. "Lessen the slack on the sails a bit!"

"Aye-aye," replied the archaeologist quickly.

Eventually, the _Thousand Sunny_ was able to make it through the whirlpools without a scratch. Everyone seemed to breath a sigh of relief at this, as Luffy let out a massive cheer, the rest of the crew joining with them.

Their cheers were cut short, however, when they looked out ahead of them in awe, and saw one of the most beautiful images they'd ever seen. The water surrounding them was a bright sparking blue that they could see through. This section of the ocean was teeming with life as well, as a large number of different fish leapt through the air or swam past the ship happily. Each fish looked absolutely delicious (at least to Luffy) as well, and strangely enough, Luffy remembers some of those fish that he thought were only indigenous to the East Blue.

"What a beautiful sight…" Nami commented.

"So…tasty…" drooled Luffy, his tongue lolling out as he eyed all the delicious-looking fish swimming below or leaping above them.

Big Mom nodded in agreement. "This is the reward to anyone who makes it to the final island in the Grand Line. This stretch of ocean surrounding Raftel is known as the All Blue."

"The All Blue?" all three Straw Hats asked at once.

Big Mom looked at them questioningly before nodding. The three suddenly burst out laughing as Luffy said, "So it really does exist! I wish Sanji was here to see this!"

Luffy's laughing was cut short, however, when he realized that he was within striking distance of Victor's ship. He quickly ran to the front and saw that the _Harbinger_ hadn't landed on Raftel yet.

The Straw Hat Captain whipped around and said, "We're within range! Let's use the Gaon Cannon and sink them!"

Silence reigned for several seconds before Nami finally said, "We're out of cola for the ship; we used the last of it on the Coup de Burst. Remember, Luffy?"

Luffy smiled earnestly and said, "Oh yeah, I guess so…"

"Don't worry," soothed Nami. "We're slowly gaining on them anyway. We'll reach them as soon as they land on the island."

"The island holding One Piece…" Luffy said.

"And the island holding the Rio Poneglyph…" added Robin.

The All Blue shimmered beneath the moonlight as a gentle breeze blew across the _Thousand Sunny_, letting them all know that they were that much closer to the island of their dreams.

— — —

Benjamin McAllister gripped his nodachi and looked at Zoro with his same smirk, adjusting his cap as he said, "You know, partner, I'm glad I finally get to fight you without a time limit or handicap."

Zoro matched his grin and shot back, "Me too. Now we can finally see who's better!"

"Don't forget about me," cut in Brook, drawing his sword and pointing it at Benjamin. "I'm in this fight as well!"

Benjamin looked at the two Straw Hats and said, "Well regardless of who wins or loses, this should be fun. I just hope you know that even if you beat me, we've already won!"

Zoro put his trademark black bandana on his head and said, "As mere crewmen, it's not up for us to decide; that's up to our captains!"

"Well even under those circumstances," stated Benjamin, "we've still won!"

* * *

Zoro and Brook vs. Benjamin!

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	106. Squabble of the Swordsmen

Battle between the swordsmen! Enjoy!

**Sorry this chapter was late.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**106: Squabble of the Swordsmen**

Zoro couldn't help but smirk at Benjamin's comment. "Then pray tell, Benjamin, what is Victor going to do when he gets to One Piece?"

Benjamin used his index finger to tip his cap up slightly as he said, "To put it in the most simply terms, partner: destruction."

"Destruction of what?" asked Brook.

"Something the marines or World Government could never accomplish," replied Benjamin. "Complete destruction of the pirate lifestyle—and pirates themselves for that matter."

Both Zoro and Brook looked at each other with concerned glances. "You know what that means don't you?" asked Zoro.

Benjamin gave a small chuckle and said, "Of course I know what that means, a lot more than you do in fact. Once Victor gets to One Piece, the pirate world as we know it will be gone!"

Brook took a step forward ands aid, "Well I'm afraid we can't let you do that, so you're going to be stopped right here!"

Benjamin smiled at them again as he drew his nodachi, its silver gleaming underneath the moonlight. "Talk is cheap, don'tcha think, partner?" he said casually. "Let's get to what we're _really_ here for."

With that, he suited man disappeared and reappeared right behind the two Straw Hats, saying, "Soru!"

He raised his nodachi up with one hand and brought it crashing down towards Zoro. Before it struck, however, Brook intercepted and parried the blow. Zoro quickly stuck Wado Ichimonji in his mouth as he prepared to strike.

"Oni…"

"Tekkai!"

"…Giri!"

Zoro's attack struck Benjamin dead-on, however, it had no effect, as Benjamin was able to strengthen his body to be as hard as iron. Brook looked at Benjamin confused, as he simply smiled and swung his leg towards Brook in a horizontal fashion. The kick had such power that it sent air-blades flying from it, hitting Brook right in his chest and sending him flying back.

"Rankyaku," smirked McAllister as Zoro quickly rushed to his fellow Straw Hat's side.

"Careful," Zoro cautioned as he helped Brook up. "This guy's a master of Rokushiki, a powerful hand-to-hand combat style that makes him superhuman."

Brook looked at Zoro inquisitively. "You've fought him before?"

"Twice," Zoro gritted. "Once when he used only Rokushiki, and another time when he used only swordsmanship skills. As a fellow swordsman, I'm sure you can tell he's very skilled."

Brook nodded in agreement. "So in other words, the extent of him using both powers at once is unknown."

Zoro bit his lower lip and regretfully nodded.

Brook straightened himself up and gripped his sword a little tighter. "Alright, then I'll go in alone to test out his true level of mastery."

"Brook, that means—" Zoro started.

Brook held his arm out to cut him off. "Let's not lie to ourselves; you're clearly the superior swordsman. You take that time to study him well, and when you think you know enough, jump in and finish him off."

Zoro closed his eyes and simply nodded, giving Brook the answer he needed. He began to walk away and said, "Don't worry about me, I won't die, even though I've already died before, yohoho!"

Benjamin tilted his head in confusion at the sight of only Brook stepping up. "You got a death wish, partner?"

Brook didn't grace him with an answer, as he simply rushed at Benjamin, his sword pointed straight at his opponent. "Gavotte: Leap Forward!"

The skeleton was able to propel himself towards the surprised Benjamin, who raised up his nodachi and quickly swiped away Brook's weapon, misdirecting it to go past him. As Brook flew by the enemy, Benjamin used his free hand to launch his index finger straight at Brook's side, yelling, "Shigan!"

His attack struck one of Brook's exposed ribs and carried enough power to crack it slightly. Brook let out a grunt of pain as he quickly landed behind Benjamin and prepared for another attack. "Dawn Serenade: Right-Handed Strike!"

Brook thrust his sword straight at the turning Benjamin, who saw the danger and quickly acted, saying, "Kami-e!"

Benjamin's body quickly went limp, dropping to one side and causing Brook's attack to miss. As soon as Brook's attack finished, Benjamin reconstituted himself and dropped to the floor, sending his leg sprawling out and moving it in a sweeping motion, striking Brook's exposed legs and sending him falling to the floor.

"Rankyaku!"

Brook hit the ground with a thud as Benjamin brought his leg up incredibly high, aiming it straight at the Straw Hat. As he brought it down, he said, "Rankyaku!"

Brook reacted quickly, swinging his sword and cutting the unprepared Benjamin's leg, stopping his attack and causing him to grunt. "Prelude: After!" Brook declared while hopping to his feet as Benjamin retreated a few steps.

Cocking his arm back, Brook continued his barrage as he thrust his sword several times in quick succession at Benjamin, saying, "Polka Remise!"

Benjamin didn't have time to use his Rokushiki, so he quickly brought his nodachi up and parried all of the blows, although a strain did show on his face. "Now take this!" Brook yelled as he leapt high into the air, leaving Benjamin to look up in confusion.

Brook aimed his sword at Benjamin in midair as he prepared to launch himself downward. "Swallow Leap For—"

"Geppo," Benjamin said seamlessly as he leapt high into the air as if "walking" on it.

This happened so fast that before Brook could even finish naming his attack, Benjamin was higher above him, causing the shocked Brook to look up. Benjamin smirked as he said, "In aerial combat, whoever's higher up wins! Rankyaku!"

Instead of using his leg to send the air-blade, Benjamin stiffened up his free arm and threw it across his body, causing a horizontal blade to fly at Brook. The skeleton quickly brought up his sword to stop the blow, but Benjamin was expecting that as he quickly moved towards Brook, bringing his nodachi down in an attempt to cut him.

The Straw Hat once again was able to parry the blow as his face was now a few inches away from the smirking Benjamin's as they both began to fall from the air. Benjamin cocked his free fist back and said in a victorious tone, "You parry, you lose. Tekkai Fist!"

Powering up his body to the strength of iron, Benjamin sent that empowered fist crashing into Brook's chest, causing him to spit up blood and get sent barreling towards the earth, landing on the hard plateau with a crash. Benjamin kept his smile as he used Geppo to lightly land on his feet.

"That's one down," he said to himself, "and one more to—"

He cut himself off, mostly due to shock, when he saw Brook slowly rising from his falling place, still gripping his sword with life clearly in his eyes. He didn't say anything to Benjamin as he just raised his blade and rushed towards his opponent with incredible speeds.

"Three-Verse Humming: Arrow-Notch Slash!"

"Tekkai!" roared Benjamin, as he knew he wouldn't have time to dodge or parry the blow.

In an instant, Brook was behind the unmoving Benjamin. The latter smiled as he looked behind him towards the skeleton, but his smirk quickly faded when a wound opened up on his left shoulder, causing blood to fly out of it.

Brook grinned triumphantly as he muttered, "G-Gotcha…"

With that, the Straw Hat fell to the floor, leaving Benjamin to turn around and slowly walk towards his fallen enemy. "To think you could pierce my Tekkai," he sad slowly. "That's quite a feat, although it looks like you're spent now."

He stopped just before Brook and raised his nodachi up. With a glint in his eye, he simply said, "Goodbye…"

His slash was stopped midway, however, when Roronoa Zoro appeared between the two with his swords out, parrying Benjamin's blow. "Get the hell away from my crewmate," Zoro said dangerously.

Benjamin simply smirked while withdrawing his sword and taking a few steps back. "Oho…so you finally grace me with your presence."

"Zoro…" muttered Brook. "Sorry I couldn't…do more…"

Zoro kneeled down and smiled at him reassuringly. "You did fine. Don't worry about that right now. Get to someplace safe and recover; I'll take care of the rest."

Brook smiled and started, "And when I've recovered enough…"

"…you jump in and finish him off," finished Zoro. "Go, you've done enough for now."

Brook was able to muster enough strength to haul himself away from the battlefield, and rested his back against the side of the mountain, resting and watching the battle yet to come.

"Don't think I wasn't wise to your scheme, partner," Benjamin said as Zoro turned back towards him with a scowl. "I knew that skeleton was just trying to find out all my moves so you could use that information and beat me."

"Is that so?" was all Zoro replied with.

Benjamin nodded, adding, "If you wanted to know about the full extent of my power, all you had to do was ask. We measure someone's skill in Rokushiki with something called Douriki."

Zoro tilted his head and listened intently.

"Now if my sources are correct, partner," continued Benjamin, "the highest Douriki ever recorded was that of Mr. Rob Lucci's, having the number 4,000. Now last time I checked, mine was somewhere around 3,000."

Zoro grinned wolfishly at this and commented, "Looks like you don't hold the record there."

Benjamin nodded in acknowledgement. "True, I don't…Soru!"

He quickly reappeared behind Zoro, surprising him.

"But that doesn't mean I can't beat you, partner," finished Benjamin with a grin.

Quick as lightning, Zoro turned around and swung his sword straight at his enemy. Benjamin raised up his arm and said, "Tekkai!"

Zoro's blade stopped as soon as it hit his hardened forearm. Benjamin wasted no time as he thrust back his other arm and aimed his nodachi straight at Zoro's head. With incredible speeds, Zoro was able to dodge the thrust and got away with only a nasty cut on his cheek. Zoro quickly leapt away and moved his sword so quickly a large amount of compressed air shot towards Benjamin.

"108 Pound Cannon!"

"Rankyaku!"

Both fighters' strikes hit in the middle, cancelling each other out and sending them skidding back from the shockwave. Zoro pointed his swords straight in front of him and rushed towards Benjamin, yelling, "Bull Needles!"

"Soru!" recited Benjamin, disappearing and reappearing at Zoro's side.

Zoro quickly turned to face his opponent as both his biceps swelled up. "One Gorilla, Two Gorilla; Two Gorilla Cut!"

He swung all three blades towards Benjamin, who was forced to parry it with his blade, but the strength was so much that it sent Benjamin flying backwards and landing on his back. While Benjamin was standing up, Zoro leapt into the air and performed a flying multiple slash technique, saying, "Raven Hunt!"

The slashes sent shockwaves flying towards the recovering Benjamin, who didn't have time to react and got several light slashes at his side, causing him to grunt in annoyance. Zoro quickly landed and ran straight for Benjamin, not letting up. He brought his swords up and said, "Tiger Hunt!"

Benjamin stopped the attack dead in its tracks as he brought his nodachi up to parry it. "No more messing around! Tekkai Fist!"

He threw another empowered punch that hit Zoro straight in his stomach, winding him and sending him flying back. Benjamin slowly walked towards the fallen Straw Hat, intent on finishing him off. When he was close enough, however, Zoro surprised him by jumping to his feet and rushing right at his target.

"Oni Giri!"

Benjamin could only look on helplessly as Zoro sped past him and caused a powerful slash across his chest, sending his blood flying from it. He gripped his chest in pain, before quickly recovering and saying, "Soru!"

He was suddenly right in front of Zoro and without gracing him with a word, he cocked his fist back and yelled, "Shigan!"

His finger pierced Zoro's shoulder, causing him to grunt and step back, swinging his three swords in an attempt to hit him. Benjamin ducked his attack and swung his leg straight at Zoro's stomach, hitting him dead on while saying, "Rankyaku!"

Zoro doubled over as his stomach got cut. Despite that, he recovered quickly and swung his swords at Benjamin again, who leapt into the air saying, "Geppo!"

While in the air, he raised his sword up and flew towards the ground, intent on slicing Zoro in half. Zoro quickly dodged out of the way, but the impact sent him to the ground with a groan. Benjamin recovered and looked at Zoro, grinning despite the fact that he was injured.

"You've got a valiant spirit," stated Benjamin, "but that's not enough to beat me, I'm afraid, partner."

Surprisingly, while on his back facing the sky, Zoro let out a large amount of laughter, unnerving Benjamin slightly and causing him to ask, "What's so funny?"

Zoro slowly stood up, looking at Benjamin right in the eye, his laugh subsiding. "Sorry, I just thought it was funny that after all your bravado and confidence, I was able to wound you so easily."

"What was that, partner?" asked the angered McAllister.

"I did get a lot of information by watching you fight Brook," Zoro explained. "I noticed that you rely on swordsmanship as your main form of attack, and Rokushiki as a more secondary power, assisting you in escaping, defending, and sometimes attacking."

Benjamin raised an eyebrow at this. "So?"

"So, while fighting with Brook, I couldn't help but notice that his consistent attacking sometimes caught you off-guard, and there were times where you didn't invoke your Rokushiki to defend or escape. It soon became pretty obvious to me that the best way to injure you and bypass your seemingly invincible strategy is to keep nailing you and catching you off-guard, and it appeared to work out quite nicely so far."

Benjamin growled at this, as he rushed towards Zoro and brought his nodachi down on him; Zoro easily parried it. "Watch it, partner!" Benjamin growled dangerously. "Just because you got one attack in one me doesn't mean you can beat me."

Zoro couldn't help but smirk and ask, "Then what are you so afraid of?"

Something changed in Benjamin's mind then, as he surprisingly smirked, cocked his free fist back with his index finger pointed out, and said, "You're right, I shouldn't be. Allow me to get serious now, then. Rokushiki Style: Shigan Strike!"

Surprisingly, Benjamin shot forward his Shigan, but didn't aim for Zoro. Instead, the attack hit the back of his nodachi, giving it more momentum and power, forcing the surprised Zoro to the ground. The Straw Hat swordsman barely had time to register what happened before Benjamin raised his blade up high with one hand, his other hand cocked back.

"Rokushiki Style: Rankyaku Hammer!"

He quickly brought his hand towards the back of his blade once again with the strength and speed of Rankyaku, sending it flying towards Zoro at incredibly speeds. Luckily, he was able to roll out of the way, causing Benjamin's nodachi to hit the ground and send massive cracks in the earth.

"What the hell is that?" demanded Zoro, quickly scrambling to his feet as Benjamin disappeared.

"Soru!"

He reappeared behind Zoro, but this time the Straw Hat was ready as he positioned his blades and rushed towards Benjamin. "Oni Giri!"

"Rokushiki Style: Tekkai Shield!"

Benjamin held his nodachi out straight in front of him with the tip pointing upwards. He quickly placed his forearm behind the blade and activated Tekkai, stopping Zoro's attack dead in its tracks.

"You son of a—" Zoro started.

Benjamin didn't waste time as he moved his free arm and shot it straight at Zoro's chest, yelling, "Shigan!"

Zoro quickly leapt away, not wanting to take any more damage. While breathing heavily, he finally asked his enemy, "What the hell is this?"

Benjamin smiled and said, "It's as you said before, partner. I _was_ using Rokushiki and swordsmanship separately, but suppose what would happen if I used them together synonymously?"

"You don't mean…"

"That's right, partner!" cut in Benjamin. "We get an entirely new swordsmanship style that I invented, aptly named the Rokushiki Style! I'm even more powerful when I'm using my skills together, so you really don't stand a chance now!"

Zoro bit down on Wado Ichimonji a little harder and gripped his blades a little tighter, knowing the difficulty of fighting Benjamin just got a whole lot harder.

* * *

Revealing his ultimate technique!

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	107. Rend

Benjamin reveals his hidden hand. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**107: Rend**

_"What a powerful swordsmanship style…"_ Zoro thought aptly. _"Using his Rokushiki techniques to empower his attacks is a brilliant strategy that trumps most of my attacks in pure strength…He might just be too powerful…"_

Zoro's grip on his blades slackened, as Benjamin cracked his neck and asked with a smile, "What's the matter, partner, lost all of your nerve?"

Zoro then tightened his grip around his swords and thought feverishly, _"No, the fact that I made him use his ultimate technique is a sign that I can beat him! I just have to keep pushing myself and I'll come out on top."_

A grin appeared on Zoro's face that matched Benjamin's as he aimed his swords straight at his enemy. "Get ready, 'cause here I come!" With that, Zoro took off at incredible speeds towards the surprised Benjamin. "Bull Demon Courageous Talons!"

"Geppo!"

Benjamin quickly leapt into the air, letting Zoro speed right past him. Zoro quickly turned towards the airborne Benjamin and yelled, "108 Pound Cannon!"

As the powerful shockwaves flew towards Benjamin, he placed his forearm behind his blade and said, "Tekkai!"

His body quickly became as hard as iron and he started barreling towards the earth, his blade pointed towards Zoro. "Rokushiki Style: Tekkai Cannon!"

Zoro quickly dodged out of the way, leaving Benjamin to smash into the ground and cause the rock all around him to crash; McAllister quickly stood up, unharmed. Zoro struck up another position and rushed towards Benjamin. "Oni Giri!"

"Soru!"

Benjamin used his speed to launch into the air above Zoro. He held his sword out vertically in front of him and raised up his sword as if to do a Rankyaku attack. "Rokushiki Style: Rankyaku Hammer!"

Benjamin's foot collided with the back of his nodachi, propelling him to the ground with great speed, aimed right at Zoro. The Straw Hat swordsman acted quickly as he leapt into the air while spinning, forming a ball with his blades. "Leopard Spinning Balls!"

He managed to avoid Benjamin's attack and used his blades to slash him as he went by. Benjamin winced as a cut appeared on his outstretched arm. They both landed on the ground at the same time, as they both quickly turned around to face each other. Zoro wasted no time as he charged headlong at Benjamin.

"Streaming Wolf Swords!"

"Tekkai!"

They both appeared on the opposite sides of each other, as Zoro grunted and grabbed his arm, blood flowing out of a new cut that appeared. "Not bad, partner," Benjamin said. "Too bad when I use Tekkai I'm not just immobile. I was able to get a Shigan out on you just as you passed."

"Is that so?" asked Zoro with a smile. "Well if seems to me that if you move while using your defensive attack, you're more open to strikes yourself."

Benjamin quickly understood what he meant as a slash opened up on his chest, causing him to drop to one knee and grip his chest.

"I'm slowly cutting through your defense," bragged Zoro, turning around to face Benjamin yet again. "Looks like if you want to truly defend now, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way, like a real swordsman should."

Benjamin regained his footing and gripped his nodachi, wiping the blood from his mouth. Surprisingly, he smiled and said, "You're right, Roronoa Zoro. Time I stop hiding behind Rokushiki parlor tricks and face you sword-to-sword like a real man."

"That's more like it!"

Benjamin nodded as he took off his blue-and-white cap, revealing his short graying black hair and thrust it towards Zoro. "The starting signal, then?"

Zoro let out a wolfish laugh and said, "Whenever you're ready…"

With a look of determination in his eye, Benjamin threw his cap into the air. Both swordsmen watched as it peaked in the air and began its descent back to earth. As soon as it touched the ground, both men rushed towards each other, their swords ready.

Benjamin aimed his sword straight at Zoro while also cocking back his free hand, having his index finger pointing out. He threw his finger to touch the hilt of the blade, yelling, "Rokushiki Style: Shigan Thrust!"

The momentum of the Shigan sent his nodachi flying towards Zoro, who quickly shifted his weight to the side and got away with only a slight scratch on his chest. Zoro aimed his three swords horizontally towards Benjamin's neck and said, "Crab Grab!"

Before his three swords could come together, cutting off Benjamin's head, he was able to duck and thrust his leg out, sweeping Zoro's legs while yelling, "Rankyaku!"

Zoro was swept off his feet and landed on his back, allowing Benjamin to leap into the air yelling, "Geppo!"

While in the air, he aimed his sword straight downwards, pointed right at Zoro's chest. He raised his leg up high as if to use Rankyaku and sent it barreling down to hit the hilt of his sword, yelling, "Rokushiki Style: Rankyaku Meteor!"

Benjamin flew towards the earth, his nodachi pointed down and ready to skewer the fallen swordsman. Luckily, Zoro rolled to one side, allowing the tip of Benjamin's blade to ram into the ground, sending his sword buried deep into the earth. Zoro used this opportunity to rush towards the grounded and defenseless Benjamin, intent on finishing him off.

With a massive grunt of strength, however, Benjamin was able to lift his nodachi up with the ground still stuck to it, taking a huge chunk of earth with him. He quickly swung his sword to Zoro's side, but was able to slam his free fist into it to make it speed towards Zoro with more power.

"Rankyaku Style: Tekkai Bludgeon!"

The large chunk of earth slammed right into Zoro's side, giving him such an impact that Wado Ichimonji flew out of his mouth as Zoro let out a wail of pain before rolling to the ground.

Benjamin quickly threw the chunk of earth off his nodachi and rushed towards Zoro. The Straw Hat swordsman, however, quickly got onto his feet with only his two swords in his hands and rushed towards the charging Benjamin to meet him head on.

When he was close enough, Zoro drew his swords and sped past Benjamin, sheathing them just as quickly. Just before Zoro struck, Benjamin sensed the danger as he held his nodachi up vertically and placed his forearm behind it, yelling, "Rokushiki Style: Tekkai Shield!"

Zoro quickly skidded himself to a stop as he smiled and said, "Two-Sword Style: Castle Gate."

Along both of Benjamin's arms, two deadly-looking slashes appeared, causing him to grunt in pain yet again as blood flew out of them. Benjamin turned around to Zoro and said in a surprising smile, "You're ruining my favorite suit, partner!"

Zoro turned around, his arm gripped on his shoulder, saying, "I could say the same to you. You were able to hit me with a quick Rankyaku before I hit you, weren't you?"

He moved his arm to reveal a deep cut in his left shoulder, blood flowing from it. Benjamin smiled and said, "Maybe. The most adept Rokushiki users _in theory_ could use attacks that quickly."

"Quit bullshitting," Zoro said bluntly. "I thought you said you were done with your Rokushiki shit! A man could only take so much of that, anyways."

Benjamin smiled and said, "By that I assume you mean your fight with Kaku of the CP9. Is that right, partner?"

Zoro's face clearly showed surprise as he started, "How do you—"

"It's been a well-known fact—well, maybe to your captain only—that we've been keeping tabs on your crew since you defeated Sir Crocodile, partner," replied Benjamin curtly. "I don't know why you're complaining, you're dealing with my Rokushiki much better than you dealt with his."

"Just practice, I suppose," Zoro smirked, standing fully upright. He pointed his sword at Benjamin and said, "But that still doesn't answer my question. I thought you were done using Rokushiki."

Benjamin shrugged the question off by shrugging his shoulders and simply said, "I only said I'd use my swordsmanship more, partner, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been doing that."

Zoro cracked his neck and looked past Benjamin, saying, "Whatever. Let's just finish this."

Benjamin caught his glance and motioned to Wado Ichimonji behind him. "You want that, don'tcha, partner?"

"So what if I do?"

Benjamin shrugged off his suit-jacket, revealing his blue dress-shirt and black tie (with splotches of red due to his injuries), and threw it behind him, having it land and completely cover Zoro's fallen sword. McAllister cracked his knuckles and said tauntingly to his enemy, "Then try and get it."

Zoro grimaced at this as he rushed straight for his weapon. "I think I'll take ya up on that offer!"

"Soru!"

Benjamin appeared right in front of him, his nodachi raised high. Zoro held his two swords right out in front of him like rhinoceros horns and began to spin, yelling, "Rhino Cycle!"

Benjamin quickly evaded the attack, leaving Wado Ichimonji open, and Zoro took the opportunity to speed straight towards it. "Not so fast, partner," Benjamin smirked. "Geppo!"

He quickly leapt into the air and was right over Zoro. He raised his nodachi high again and brought his free palm smashing towards the back of his weapon, sending his weapon forward with a powerful momentum. "Rokushiki Style: Rankyaku Hammer!"

Zoro side-stepped the attack while running, but the impact sent him to the side, leaving Benjamin time to recover and get in front of Zoro's weapon. The Straw Hat scowled as he said, "Get the hell out of my way! Dragon Twister!"

Using his two swords, Zoro spun around and created a dragon-like tornado, sending the unsuspecting Benjamin in the air while also slashing him lightly across his chest. While in the air, Zoro kicked Benjamin's suit-jacket away and grabbed his Wado Ichimonji, but surprisingly sheathing all three of his swords.

While Benjamin was falling helplessly, Zoro rushed towards him and when he was in range, he unsheathed his Wado Ichimonji, yelling, "One Sword Style: Lion's Strike!"

"Rokushiki Style: Tekkai Shield!" yelled Benjamin just before Zoro's attack hit.

For the third time, Zoro ended up behind Benjamin, his sword sheathed and a smile on his face. Before he could feel Benjamin fall to the ground, he heard him roar in pain. Zoro didn't even need to turn around to know that he dealt him a fearsome horizontal slash across his chest.

"ENOUGH! SORU!"

The surprised Roronoa Zoro turned around to see Benjamin right in front of him, the wound he just caused was indeed there, yet it didn't finish him off. Without a word, Benjamin threw his nodachi straight into the air, cocked both his fists back, and launched them straight at the surprised Zoro's unprotected chest.

"Rokushiki Ultimate Technique: Rokugan!"

Both his fists struck the middle of Zoro's chest, causing a large shock to go through his body, and after coughing up a hefty amount of blood and letting out a painful grunt, Roronoa Zoro was sent flying backwards, landing on his back several feet away.

Benjamin didn't end there was he quickly yelled, "Geppo!"

While in the air he was able to grab his falling nodachi and run straight for the fallen Zoro. He aimed his sword straight downward, launching his palm towards his sword's hilt. "This is it, Zoro! Rokushiki Style: Rankyaku Meteor!"

Just before he could strike the fallen Zoro, however, Benjamin sensed someone else attacking at his side, so he quickly turned to defend himself, saying, "Rokushiki Style: Tekkai Shield!"

A blade hit Benjamin's dead on, and the power that came with it sent him flying towards the ground. Benjamin let out a series of several pants as he slowly got up to see who stopped him from finishing Zoro off.

Zoro was also interested to see who it was, but he heard a familiar voice say, "You look pitiful, Roronoa Zoro. Surely you can't be on your back because of _him_."

"You're…" Zoro started.

"…Dracule Mihawk!" Benjamin stated, looking at the former Shichibukai himself.

Mihawk sheathed his blade and nodded at Benjamin's acknowledgment. "That is correct, and you're the infamous Benjamin McAllister, are you not?"

Benjamin didn't grace him with an answer as he simply stood up, breathing heavily and gripping his nodachi. Mihawk offered a hand to help Zoro up, but the Straw Hat swordsman swatted it away and sat up himself, saying incredulously, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was asked by an old friend and rival," Mihawk simply responded. "And when I heard you were engaging in combat, I was quite eager to see your growth. In fact, I've been watching your fight for some time now."

"You what?"

Mihawk kept his calm expression and simply said, "Interesting way to say 'Thank you for saving me,' don't you think?"

"Cut the crap!" roared Zoro, using one of his swords to help him get up. When he was back on his feet he looked Mihawk straight in the eye. "This is my fight, so I don't want you butting in!"

Mihawk couldn't help but crack a smile as he said, "If I recall back when I fought you in the East Blue, you said something like 'you'd never lose again'?"

"I haven't lost yet!" retorted Zoro. "So don't butt in anymore!"

"Fair enough," Mihawk said. "Although I think you're underestimating your opponent. He is after all, one of the few men to ever betray the Marines and live."

"What?"

Benjamin flinched.

"Indeed," continued Mihawk. "The World Government kept it under tight wraps so no citizens would lose faith with them, but the Shichibukai were privy to some secret information themselves."

Zoro shook his head in confusion and said, "Just spit out what you're gonna say already!"

Mihawk pointed to Benjamin and stated, "I'm saying that that man—Benjamin McAllister—betrayed and left the Marines fifteen years ago."

Benjamin McAllister gripped his nodachi tighter and let out an audible scowl…

* * *

Mihawk arrives to reveal McAllister's past!

******Please Review/Favo**rite, it is greatly appreciated!


	108. The Marine

With the arrival of Mihawk... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**108: The Marine**

"That guy betrayed the Marines?" Zoro asked in a lackluster voice. "I would have guessed he was a former CP9 member."

Hawk-Eyes Mihawk shook his head and explained. "All marines are trained in Rokushiki, while only the best are put into the CP9."

Benjamin pointed his nodachi at Mihawk and said, "Hey, do you mean to tell me you showed up here just to bring up memories that don't matter anymore?"

Mihawk simply shrugged and replied, "I just thought it would be best for Roronoa to know about his enemy."

Benjamin gritted his teeth and said, "That's the type of past that shouldn't be brought up anymore…"

— — —

_Marineford  
15 years ago/1507 AOS_

_"No." _

_Fleet-Admiral Sengoku looked at the man incredulously. "What was that?"_

_McAllister shook his head, as if to reiterate, before saying, "Sorry, but I refuse your offer."_

_"Don't be ridiculous," demanded Sengoku. "With a Douriki of 3000 and a complete mastery in the art of Rokushiki, there's no question as to who should lead the CP9. You're the only man for the job, Vice-Admiral McAllister."_

_Benjamin removed his trademark marine cap for a second before saying, "Sorry, but espionage and World Government dirty work really isn't my thing. I'm a Marine-Man who believes fully in justice. What's the matter with Spandine anyways? Isn't he doing a good job?"_

_Sengoku sighed as he put his hand to his face, shaking his head. "Spandine isn't strong enough in Rokushiki to be an effective leader, but you've got enough experience and power to bring the CP9 to a whole new level."_

_Benjamin put his cap back on before saying, "I'm not _that_ old, ya know? Besides, wasn't there that one kid who just recently slaughtered those 500 hostages in that one kingdom? What was his name, Larry, or Lenny, or maybe—"_

_"It's Lucci," Sengoku intervened. "Rob Lucci, and the World Government already has him in the CP9, although his strength isn't nearly strong enough yet to lead. Only you, Vice-Admiral McAllister, can give that organization the strong leadership it—"_

_"Whatever, I'm outta here," Benjamin stated callously, walking towards the door._

_"McAllister, wait!" yelled Sengoku. "The World Government needs you for this task!"_

_"Make me an Admiral and I'll think about it."_

_Sengoku let out a sigh and slumped back into his chair while Benjamin reached the door of his office, putting his hand on the handle, and looking back at Sengoku with a smile: "I think this Lucci kid might work out; new recruits usually do. You're living proof of that, Recently Promoted Fleet-Admiral Sengoku."_

_Vice-Admiral Benjamin McAllister quickly left Sengoku's office, walking out onto the Marineford Plaza. He didn't get two steps before he heard someone say, "You thought it would be that easy to become an Admiral?"_

_Benjamin looked behind him to see another marine standing there. He too wore a suit (although his was gray suit-jacket with blue pinstripes covering a black shirt and a stark-white tie) and marine overcoat, signifying his rank as a Vice-Admiral. He looked to be just about as old as Benjamin with a few scars adorning his face, and had long black hair that was slicked back at the front, revealing his entire forehead. Strapped to his back were two fearsome-looking katanas. _

_Benjamin smiled at the man and said, "No, Jack, I didn't think it would be that easy. In fact, I only said it to shut him up."_

_The Vice-Admiral named Jack sighed and asked, "Why didn't you take it anyways? The position as head of CP9 would certainly be a lot better than just a Vice-Admiral."_

_Benjamin tapped the nodachi at the side of his suit and replied, "If I joined that shadowy-organization and abandoned the Marines, then I would never be able to face piracy and villainy face-to-face again, instead being retained to the darkness."_

_"Always a fan of Justice, eh?" Jack smiled sheepishly. "You're too crazy, even by Marine standards!"_

_Benjamin let out a laugh and patted Jack on the shoulder. "Maybe that's true, but I could never find it in myself to abandon my favorite partner."_

_Jack feigned disgust and swatted Benjamin's hand away from him. "I need no sarcasm from you. Now come on, let's hurry up and—"_

_"Vice-Admiral Rackam, Vice-Admiral McAllister," a marine said, running towards Jack and Benjamin, who raised their eyebrows at him, recognizing the man almost immediately._

_"Well if it isn't Rear-Admiral Doberman," Benjamin smirked. "Why are you bothering your _superiors_ at such a late time?"_

_Doberman glared dangerously at Benjamin and said, "Watch it. You may think you're my senior, but the fact is that we both entered the marines together, so I have no need to show you any respect."_

_"Common courtesy dictates that a Rear-Admiral show respect to a Vice-Admiral, I'm afraid," quickly replied Benjamin. "And if I recall, me and Jack here moved up in the ranks faster than you."  
Doberman kept his stony expression as he grumbled, "Yet my sense of justice and skill with swords is far superior to yours, so I don't know why…"_

_Benjamin caught that and put his hand at the side of his nodachi. "You wanna test that theory?"_

_Jack put his arm out in front of Benjamin to stop him from any further action, saying firmly, "Enough. Just tell us what the message is, Doberman."_

_"It seems like Vice-Admiral Garp wants to talk to you two," the marine quickly stated._

_"Garp?" questioned Jack. "What does he want with us?"_

_Doberman shrugged and simply said, "He said it's a matter of importance regarding you two."_

_Jack exchanged glances at Benjamin, who also shrugged and said, "We can't really ignore our senior officer, now can we? Let's just go see what he wants." _

_Jack nodded and both Vice-Admirals began to walk towards Monkey D. Garp's office. Before going, Benjamin couldn't help but look behind him towards Doberman and say, "Keep up the fine messaging work, Doberman. One of these days you might get a promotion!"_

_Doberman mumbled darkly under his breath and shuffled away._

— — —

_Vice-Admiral Garp's office was the same, as always. One would think that after so many years of working under the marines he would want to change up his office a bit, but they would be wrong. Garp was sitting at his desk looking over some papers when Benjamin and Jack walked in, getting his attention._

_"Ah, nice to see you two; come in," he said warmly. "Would you like some tea?"_

_Both marines refused and took their seats across from Garp's desk. "So why did you call us here, sir?" inquired Jack._

_Garp let out a roaring laugh at this and said, "No need to be so formal. Just call me Garp."_

_"Sounds good," Benjamin said, taking initiative and leaning back in his chair, placing his feet on Garp's desk. "We're all Vice-Admirals here anyways, right? So what did ya call us for?"_

_Garp slid a picture over towards both of them, and both reacted almost instantly to who was on it. The man in the picture was of a respectable height, had fiery-red hair that was messy and unkempt, a scarred (yet smiling) face, a fearsome-looking decorated dagger at his side, and a broad red captain's cloak on his shoulders._

_"Fordrin's back," Garp said seriously. "That picture was just taken a few hours ago."_

_Jack looked at Garp and asked, "So soon? I thought he was still in the New World trying to make a bigger name for himself."_

_"Apparently not," Garp said, taking a sip of tea for himself. "He's reentered the first half of the Grand Line, and it looks like he's content to stay for a while. I thought you two should be the first to know, since he's been eluding your capture since…well, for a long time now."_

_Benjamin took the picture and inspected it. "Rin Fordrin the Chained…to think he'd be back so soon." He looked at Garp. "Where is he now?"  
"That picture was taken at Sabaody Archipelago," answered Garp._

_That was all Benjamin needed as he stood up and looked at Jack. "Let's go get him once and for all; whaddya say, partner?"_

_Vice-Admiral Jack Rackam looked at Garp with a grinning expression as he stood up. He turned to Benjamin and said, "Lead the way, partner."_

_While they were both leaving, Garp said to them, "Don't go in alone, do ya hear? Take some marines with ya!"_

_"Don't worry," stated Benjamin, not even bothering to look around at the aging Vice-Admiral. "We'll take a ship of men with us, if only for aesthetics."_

_With that, they left, as Garp slumped back into his seat and smiled, saying to himself, "They remind me of how I was back when I was always chasing Roger…"_

— — —

_It certainly didn't take long for Benjamin and Jack to land on Sabaody Archipelago, docking it at the local Marine headquarters before leaving all of the marines they brought to "guard the ship" and let them "go scouting first."_

_"To think it's been five years since Fordrin first made it on the scene," reminisced Jack. "It's pretty amazing how quickly he rose to fame."_

_"Yet not even a 125 million bounty could stop him," added Benjamin. He turned to his partner and said, "Don't worry about it, we'll definitely catch him this time!"_

_Jack sighed and said, "Where have I heard that before?"_

_Benjamin comically hit him on the back of his head and said, "Ah, shaddup, and try not to look so Marine-ish; we're entering the lawless zone."_

_"Marine-ish?" asked a confused Jack. "Just 'cause we discarded our coats doesn't mean people won't be able to spot us. I mean, how many normal people wear suits like ours?"_

_"I refuse to stop wearing my suit, no matter what," said Benjamin with a grin, lifting up his cap, which was blue and white, yet didn't have Marine listed on it, probably at some attempt for subterfuge. "Not even justice could strip me of my sense of fashion."_

_"Whatever…"_

_The marine pair entered Groves 1-29, better known as the lawless section of Sabaody Archipelago. The two figured that they had the best chance of finding Fordrin there. However, they couldn't step two feet within the perimeter of the rowdy town before they heard someone scream._

_They looked to see a man on the ground with a bloodied face on the ground. Above him were two large-looking pirates, each with a sword in their hand. "Don't make me do it again," one of them warned. "Just apologize for bumping into me, and I won't have to kill you."_

_Benjamin sighed as he lowered his cap, looking at Jack. "Time to get the whole justice thing in, right partner?"_

_Jack grinned as he gripped one of the swords on his back. "Sounds good. Let's go."_

_Before the two marines could even move, however, another man leapt into action, tackling one of the pirates and knocking him to the ground. The other pirate quickly reacted by raising his sword up and bringing it down on the offending man, but he quickly grabbed the fallen pirate's sword and parried the blow, dealing a swift kick to the pirate's exposed stomach, winding him and sending him to the ground._

_Benjamin and Jack looked at each other with confused looks on their faces before running over to investigate the situation further. The man who attacked the two pirates stood up, dusted himself off, and looked at the wounded gentleman on the ground._

_"You might wanna to the hospital," he said, "lest you agitate your wounds and die."_

_The wounded man nodded, and quickly stood up, thanking him and leaving, just when Benjamin and Jack arrived. The man looked at the two and said almost immediately, "Marines here? That's pretty strange."  
"Told you we weren't fooling anyone…" Jack grumbled to his partner._

_Benjamin responded by quickly stomping on his foot, causing him to grunt in pain, before looking at the man and holding his hand out. "On behalf of the Marines, we'd like to extend our thanks to you for helping out that hapless citizen."_

_The man grinned and gripped Benjamin's hand. "No problem. My name's Victor, by the way. It's pretty rare that I get to meet such high-ranking men as yourselves."_

_Meanwhile, the two pirates on the floor began to stir, as one pointed at Victor and said, "Hey, where the hell do you get the nerve to—"_

_Jack immediately got onto their knees to get eye-level with the two. He grinned wickedly at them as he said in an intimidating voice, "We don't have time to arrest small-fries like you, so just do us a favor and beat it before you make us change our minds about that!"_

_The two pirates got the message as they quickly scrambled away from the three men, not even daring to look back. Benjamin laughed at this and then looked at Victor again. "My name's Benjamin McAllister, and this one is Jack Rackam. That was a pretty brave thing ya did."_

_Victor shrugged. "I couldn't help myself, really. I don't really like pirates that much, especially when I see them terrorizing innocent people like that. If you don't mind me asking, you're Vice-Admirals, right?"_

_Benjamin nodded. "That's right."_

_Victor's eyes lit up immediately as he looked at Benjamin, saying, "And when you say your name's Benjamin McAllister, do you mean that you're _the_ Benjamin McAllister? The marine who created a fighting style of his very own and is known to be the scourge of pirates?"_

_Benjamin rubbed the back of his head in a flattered manner, a goofy grin on his face as he said, "I guess you could say that."_

_"Hey, whaddya know about me?" asked Jack, pointing to himself._

_Victor looked blankly at Jack, before shaking his head, infuriating the marine._

_"What? How could you not hear about the legendary Vice-Admiral Rackam, who for years has fought on the side of justice along with his partner-in-crime Vice-Admiral McAllister?"_

_Victor shrugged. "Guess you're just overshadowed by your partner; I've only heard about Benjamin."_

_Jack was about to attack the hapless man, but Benjamin held him back and said calmly, "Relax, relax! Don't go and attack him just 'cause he doesn't know who you are!"_

_Jack calmed down after a few seconds, and remained quiet, save for the last few mutterings underneath his breath about lack of respect._

_"Anyways," Benjamin said, trying to get back on track, "we're here on official business, and I was wondering if you could help us out with some information."_

_Victor nodded happily, saying, "Sure. Whatcha need?"_

_"Well, we're here tracking down a pirate by the name of Rin Fordrin. Do you know anything about him?"_

_"You mean Fordrin the Chained," Victor said. "Of course I've heard about him. Rumor has it that he's returned from the New World."_

_"That rumor would be correct," intervened Jack. "In fact, we hear he's on this very island. Have you heard anyone say anything in whisper, mayhap?"_

_Victor looked on in thought for a second before finally shaking his head. "No, I'm sorry. I just recently got here myself and don't know anyone here. _

_"I see…"_

_Victor smiled and said reassuringly, "I'll let ya know if I _do_ hear anything though. Trust me, I wanna see that pirate gone as much as you guys do."_

_Jack nodded and put his hand on Benjamin's shoulder to get his attention. "We should go and keep looking for his trail; he's only gonna be here so long."_

_Benjamin nodded and said, "You're right, partner." He then looked at Victor and said, "It was very nice meeting you, Victor. And thanks once again for doing our job for us."_

_"No problem."_

_Jack motioned in front of him deeper into the lawless section of the Archipelago and said, "Come on, let's go."_

_The two marines then left Victor D. Capere, who smiled one last time before leaving to continue what he was doing before._

— — —

_"Two marines, you say?"_

_One of the two pirates who got attacked and beaten by Victor nodded at their captain. "That's right, cap'n. I was confused at first, but then I recognized them as those two Vice-Admirals who were always chasin' us before we got into the New World."_

_Captain Rin Fordrin the Chained smiled at this, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Well isn't that something…McAllister and Rackam, eh? Well I think we should give 'em a proper greeting, don'tcha think boys?"_

_His crew (known as the Chained Pirates) all laughed and nodded in agreement, most of them checking their weapons. Fordrin turned back to the two and said, "Oh, and one more thing…"_

_Quick as lightning, both pirates felt like they were being strangled, as they both gripped their necks for air, yet found nothing. After a few seconds of gasping weakly, they both dropped down, dead; Fordrin merely smiled at this._

_"Time for a reunion…"_

* * *

Fordrin's going to make his move!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	109. The Marine 2: Unjust Justice

Two marines, trying to capture the threat of Fordrin. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**109: The Marine 2- Unjust Justice**

_Mariejois  
1507 AOS  
One day after landing on Sabaody_

_The Gorosei gathered in their usual room, business calling them all together yet again._

_After being seated, the Gorosei with gray dreadlocks and a black hat looked at them. "I assume you know what business brings us here today?"_

_The Gorosei with a very visible birthmark on his head nodded and said, "Information regarding the most recently deceased Shichibukai, I'd imagine."_

_The bald Gorosei made a sour face, saying, "Who would have thought something as a storm in the New World would finish him off? He shouldn't have been a Shichibukai to begin with; we want pirates who can challenge the Yonko."_

_"Well that doesn't change the fact that we need a new one," the blonde-haired Gorosei stated. "So, who are we considering?"_

_The Gorosei with the black hat slid a picture over to the rest of his companions. "We are to consider someone who just got back from the New World, and is looking pretty strong, all things considered."_

_The very tall and thin Gorosei inspected the picture and then asked, "You think he's powerful enough?"_

_The Gorosei with the hat nodded. "Don't worry, his deeds and 125 million bounty speak for themselves. As for his test…"_

_He looked at a den-den mushi, suddenly becoming alive with activity, static, and jumbled and confused voices._

_"Well, let's just say that right now it's being administered…"_

— — —

_"…I SAID THE GODDAMNED BASE IS UNDER ATTACK! WE NEED BACKUP IMMEDIATELY!"_

_The clearly-angered marine Captain slammed the den-den mushi down and turned back towards the fight. It happened quite suddenly, but it started when a docked marine ship suddenly exploded, alerting the entire Marine Base at Sabaody Archipelago. Then, from seemingly out of nowhere a large amount of pirates started a siege upon the base, not letting up their fierce attack._

_"Ready the cannons…Fire!" a lieutenant said desperately as the marines under his command obeyed, letting a volley of cannonballs fly towards the bloodthirsty pirates. The lieutenant began to shout out another order, but was cut off when an unfortunate bullet flew right into his head, sending him sprawling to his back. _

_The Captain looked at this and drew his sword, yelling, "Come on, let's meet them head-on; it's our only chance!"_

_The marines cheered at this as the Captain led the way, rushing towards the pirates with his sword out. Unfortunately he didn't get three feet before a small circular black weight hit the hapless Captain between his eyes, dropping him like a rock immediately. The dumbfounded marines looked to see the offending figure that attacked the Captain._

_"Chirararara, that wasn't a good move," Rin Fordrin said with a laugh, and his right arm outstretched, stepping forward to meet the stopped marines. "Sorry to be the ones to tell ya this, boys, but you've gotta go!"_

_The Chained Pirates behind Fordrin cheered and immediately rushed forward, attacking headlong at the shocked marines._

_They never stood a chance…_

— — —

_Vice-Admiral Benjamin McAllister stared at the Black Den-Den Mushi on his wrist intently, keeping his ear close to it, before tapping it a few times, and finally sighing after several seconds. _

_Vice-Admiral Jack Rackam took a puff on his cigarette before saying, "You've been standing there for an hour, partner; nothing's gonna happen."_

_"Shhhh…" reacted Benjamin immediately, still keeping his ear close. "If Fordrin's on this island, then he's bound to use a den-den mushi at one point, and I'm gonna be sure to hear it!"_

_Jack threw up his arms as a sign of giving up before dropping his cigarette and stepping on it. "Come on, we've searched all over the wild districts of Sabaody. If he was here, we woulda found him by now. He's probably long gone, so why don't we do what we do best with him and continue to chase him by—"_

_"_BZZT—_I SAID THE GODDAMNED BASE_—BZZT—_UNDER ATTACK_—BZZT—_BACKUP IMMEDIATELY!"_

_Both Benjamin and Jack looked at each other quizzically, before immediately knowing what was happening, and sprinting straight towards the Marine Base._

— — —

_By the time they got there, the Marine Base of Sabaody Archipelago—a base that would take a year to rebuild and get functioning again—was completely up in flames. Both Jack and Benjamin looked to see the mixed bodies if marines and pirates alike strewn on the battlefield, before they both looked at each other in a depressed manner._

_"How about our ship along with the men we took?" asked Benjamin._

_Jack shook his head. "I checked, but the only thing at our dock was a pile of scrap-wood and fire—cold comfort I didn't see any bodies…"_

_"I could show you some if you'd like, chirarara!"_

_Both Jack and Benjamin turned towards the crackling marine base to see none other than Fordrin the Chained walking nonchalantly towards them, a few pirates at his back. Almost immediately, Benjamin snarled and said, "You!"_

_Fordrin held out his arms in a relaxed manner and replied, "Just like old times, eh? Imagine how surprised I was to hear that my two favorite Vice-Admirals were chasing me once again. Just like old times, eh? So naturally, I had to throw you a welcome party." He glanced back at the burning base. "So do ya like it?"_

_"Son of a bitch!" Benjamin blurted out. "You're gonna pay big time for this!"_

_"Mmm…I think not," was Fordrin's only reply._

_Jack shook his head and added, "This time, you're going straight to Impel Down, and hopefully the execution platform as well!"_

_Jack reached for one of the two swords strapped to his back._

_"TOO SLOW!" shouted a gleeful Fordrin._

_He shot out his right arm, and quick as lightning, a metal chain with a black circular weight attached to the end of it shot out from under Fordrin's arm. It flew and was able to wrap itself around Jack's arm before he could even blink, and Fordrin used that surprise to his advantage._

_He pulled back his arm with a grunt, sending the hapless Vice-Admiral Rackam tumbling towards him. Using his free hand, Fordrin reached for the dagger at his side, and when Jack was close enough, he slammed it down onto his shoulder, letting Jack roar in pain._

_"Jack!" shouted Benjamin, reaching for his nodachi. "Soru!"_

_Fordrin could sense Benjamin appearing right behind him, as he quickly sheathed his dagger and aimed his left arm at Benjamin, the same type of chain shooting out and wrapping itself around the marine's neck. Luckily, Benjamin was able to get his hand underneath the chain to stop himself from choking, but Fordrin didn't care._

_"Hah!" he yelled, using his strength to throw both marines forward and slam into each other almost at once._

_Fordrin quickly retracted the chains, sending them flying back to under his arms again. Then, with a whistle, he pulled out his dagger and walked towards the two fallen marines, ready to do what needed to be done._

_Then, much to Fordrin's surprise, Jack Rackam leapt up into the air, both his swords in his hands. With a roar, he swung skillfully at Fordrin. The Chained looked rather concerned at this development as he quickly ducked one of Jack's slices (meant to decapitate him no less) and shot the chain out from his right arm, the weighted end striking Jack right in his stomach, winding him._

_"Tch, what a pain," commented Fordrin. He looked to his pirates and ordered, "Take care of him. I'll deal with McAllister."_

_The Chained Pirates happily obliged as they all drew their weapons, slowly approaching the recovering Jack. When one pirate was close enough to raise his sword up, Jack was able to slice him across his unguarded chest, sending him dropping to the ground. The other pirates cursed at Jack and quickly surrounded him, intent on ending his life._

_Jack swung and cut down several, but when a pirate behind him shot him in his chest, he wavered slightly and coughed up a good amount of blood, the pirates circling in still._

_"Jack!" shouted a concerned Benjamin. "Hang on, I'll help ya out! Sor—OOPH!"_

_Fordrin appeared right in front of him and shot both chains at Benjamin at once, pelting his chest twice with the weighted ends. Benjamin coughed up a good amount of blood and dropped to one knee, before recovering and aiming his nodachi at Fordrin._

_"Rokushiki Style: Shigan Strike!"_

_Fordrin disappeared before that happened, however, and reappeared behind the shocked Benjamin, wrapping one of the chains around his neck and choking him. "Give it up!" the Chained said with a grin. "I know your attacks inside and out!"_

_Benjamin couldn't say anything as the metal chains constricted around his neck. Fordrin's grin disappeared, however, when he heard his pirates scream collectively and fall to the ground, a bloodied Vice-Admiral Rackam being the only one still standing. With a growl, he rushed straight towards the two, his two swords ready to strike._

_"Duck, partner!"_

_He positioned his swords to make a cross-shape and aimed them straight at Fordrin, but just when he was in striking distance, Fordrin whipped out his dagger and threw it straight at Jack. It flew true and struck him right in his heart, causing him to spasm and swing his swords to early, unfortunately cutting the unmoving Benjamin's left eye, leaving a cross-shaped scar._

_Vice-Admiral McAllister, however, didn't care about his new wound and was far more concerned about the well-being of his partner, who staggered backwards a few steps, dropped his swords, and finally fell on his back, staring straight up at the sky._

_"Jack…" was all Benjamin could say, as Fordrin's chained-grip on his neck got tighter._

_"He's dead," Fordrin said bluntly. "And you'll follow suit soon!"_

_He didn't get to strangle Benjamin any further, however, as a man suddenly leapt into the air and booted him right in his face, sending him flying backwards with a grunt and releasing his grip on Benjamin's neck. The grateful Vice-Admiral dropped to his hands and knees with a gasp, trying to regain his breath._

_"Who the fuck—" Fordrin started, before the man dealt him another fierce kick to the side of his head._

_Benjamin looked and saw the man was Victor, a look of fury in his eyes. _

_"Who would have thought that a single pirate crew could destroy a marine base," he said before kicking the fallen Fordrin in the face again. "And it looks like I got here a bit too late…" He looked at Jack, then at Benjamin, who was crawling over to his partner and added, "Sorry, guys, but—"_

_A gunshot cut Victor off, as a new wound spurted out of Victor's shoulder, garnering Benjamin's attention. Victor grunted and clutched his new wound, looking in the direction of where the bullet came from._

_A fresh battalion of marines marched towards the four fighters, the backup finally arriving. The leader of the battalion and the one who fired the gone was none other than Rear-Admiral Doberman._

_"Doberman!" Benjamin choked immediately. "Why are you shooting him?"_

_Doberman didn't respond as he silently stepped towards the stationary Victor, looking at him in the eyes. Before anyone knew it, Doberman shot another round into Victor's chest, causing him to cough out in pain and grip his chest, falling to his knees._

_"I said why the fuck are you shooting him?" demanded Benjamin._

_Doberman once again ignored his comment as he looked at his men and ordered, "Arrest him and lock him up in the prison on the ship."_

_The men saluted and complied, handcuffing the fainting Victor and dragging him towards the ship. After that, Doberman looked at the grounded Fordrin and ordered, "Go check on him."_

_Benjamin, however, would not go unanswered as he painfully stood up, his left eye shut from his new wound and holding the side of his chest, walking towards Doberman and saying with authority, "As your superior, Rear-Admiral, I demand you tell me why you've shot and arrested that man!"_

_"We suspect he has ties with Fordrin and taken part in this attack," Doberman finally answered._

_Benjamin spat out some blood and said, "What? Are you crazy? He just helped us finally capture Fordrin!"_

_"Sir, Fordrin is alive and conscious," a marine reported to Doberman._

_The Rear-Admiral nodded and said, "Good, give him the den-den mushi."_

_"Den-den mushi…?" questioned Benjamin in a confused tone._

_"Shut up," was all Doberman said._

_Rin Fordrin coughed harshly several times and snatched up the den-den mushi the marines gave to him. "Who the fuck is this?"_

_"Mr. Fordrin, I presume," a voice on the other end said. Benjamin recognized the voice almost immediately—it was the voice of one of the Gorosei!_

_"Yeah, and who are you?"_

_"We are known as the Gorosei, or leaders of the World Government, if you prefer," one of them answered. "And we have a proposition for you."_

_"What would that be?" questioned Fordrin, rubbing his cheek where Victor had kicked him._

_"In short, we would like you to consider a position for the Shichibukai," one finally said._

_"Shichibukai?"_

_A pause, then: "Indeed. If you were to accept, then all of your crimes as a pirate would be forgiven—including your most recent attack upon the marine base—and your bounty were be suspended indefinitely. Would you like to join our ranks as a privateer?"_

_"I'm assuming that if I don't, then I go straight to Impel Down," said Fordrin, spitting out some blood tactlessly._

_"That is correct."_

_"Chirarara!" roared Fordrin. "Then what other choice do I have? I'll gladly accept your proposal!"_

_"Excellent! Doberman!"_

_Doberman stepped towards Fordrin and said, "Yes?"_

_"Take Mr. Fordrin back to Mariejois," ordered a Gorosei, "so we can make him an official Shichibukai, Rear-Admiral Doberman—or should I say, Vice-Admiral Doberman."_

_Doberman smirked and replied, "Of course, and thank you."_

_With that, the den-den mushi went dead._

_Benjamin stood flabbergasted at what just happened. He was absolutely speechless when he saw Doberman help Fordrin up just before some marines handcuffed him. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" the Chained demanded._

_"Sorry, procedure," answered Doberman. "You're no a Shichibukai yet, so we're gonna have to chain ya up and keep ya in a cell until we get to Mariejois."_

_"Ah…fuck!"_

_Benjamin slowly walked over to Jack, who was clearly dead with Fordrin's knife protruding from his chest. He stared at his partner as the marines led Fordrin to the prison in the ship, and finally, Doberman called to him._

_"Come on, McAllister! You coming or not?"_

_"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Benjamin suddenly roared, turning around with a look of anger on his face. "You think this is justice? Letting a man who just killed an innumerable amount of marines free just like that?"_

_Doberman shrugged. "It's not our right to question orders."_

_"Bullshit!" yelled Benjamin as he began to limp towards Doberman. "My partner is dead because of this pirate, and we're just gonna abandon him like that and let his killer go free?"_

_"We'll take Vice-Admiral Rackam's body to Marineford where he can have a proper—"_

_"THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" erupted Benjamin, gripping Doberman's shirt collar._

_He immediately let go, however, when a gunshot rang out and Benjamin staggered back, a new wound appearing on his chest. Doberman held the gun with a stony expression on his face. _

_"You can't tell me what to do anymore; we're equals, Vice-Admiral," he said coldly. "Now listen and listen good. There's only one type of Justice that should be allowed, and that is Absolute Justice! It's not our job to question it, but only follow by it, and right now, Absolute Justice demands that Fordrin lives!"_

_Benjamin uttered a wheezing gasp as he painfully dropped to the floor, the light growing dimmer as he lost consciousness…_

— — —

_He awoke with a gasp, sitting bolt upright and drenched in sweat. Benjamin McAllister looked around and found that he was in the ship's infirmary. With further inspection, he saw that he was bandaged up and on the mend. Then, suddenly remembering what happened, Benjamin dropped back onto his bed and muttered, "Son of a bitch…"_

_After a few more seconds, he put on his blue-and-white cap _

(not the Marine-issued one)

_and grabbed his nodachi by his side. With a deep breath, he then stood up and exited the infirmary._

— — —

_Rin Fordrin the Chained sighed as he put his hand to his cheek in a restless motion while sitting in a cell at the bottom of the marine vessel. "How dare they treat me like this…" he muttered under his breath. "I'm good enough to be a Shichibukai anyway…"_

_Then, he heard the doors creak open, and slow steps down the stairs. With a grin, Fordrin thought it was a marine getting ready to let him out. The steps slowed when they reached the bottom of the stairs, however, and stopped completely when they reached in front of Fordrin's cell._

_With a look of anger on his face, Fordrin uttered, "You!"_

_Benjamin McAllister smiled and simply said, "Hey there, partner…"_

— — —

_The screams persisted, and Victor D. Capere thought it would never end._

_His wounds were healing quite nicely, and although he was in pain, he knew he would live. He leaned back against the ship wall and rested his head against the back. "Come on, let up already…" he muttered._

_Finally, the screams and sound of struggle did stop, and Victor couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Not too much later, the sound of footsteps reappeared, along with the jingling of keys. Finally, Benjamin stepped in front of Victor's cell, a whole ring of keys spinning around his index finger._

_"Need a hand, partner?"_

_Victor couldn't help but grin wolfishly as he said, "Sure do…"_

_Benjamin opened the cell door and happily uncuffed Victor. After he did a quick stretch, Benjamin asked, "So what now, partner?"_

_Victor cracked his neck and said, "Well, luckily I got a shipmate on standby, ready to pick us up whenever we want."_

_"Shipmate?"_

_Victor nodded. "Indeed. I happen to think a lot like you, Benjamin, so why don't you join my crew. I can promise you that if you follow me, I'll lead to an end of all pirates and the World Government alike."_

_Benjamin eyed Victor widely, as a single tear flowed down it. "In the name of Justice?"_

_"Naturally," answered Victor._

_With that, they walked down the line of cells, and Victor couldn't help but be a little curious as to what happened in Fordrin's cell._

_His body was desecrated for all to see…_

— — —

"They got on a dinghy and sailed away safely," Mihawk explained. "McAllister's been missing ever since, and the World Government did its best to cover up one of its greatest shames…"

"Wow, what a past," Zoro said in a surprised tone. "I never would have guessed that would happen."

Benjamin waved his nodachi idly and said, "The Marines were idealistic and corrupted fools. I found it was in Justice's best interests for me to separate with them and continue on my journey with Victor…"

"Such a shame…" mused Zoro, raising his swords and looking at Benjamin. "I hope you don't think this means I'll go easy on you!"

Benjamin shook his head, striking up a fighting position. "It's your move…"

"Mihawk," Zoro said, getting his attention, "don't interfere…This is my fight!"

Hawk-Eye Mihawk closed his eyes and grinned. "As you wish, Roronoa."

"This is my fight as well!"

All three swordsman looked to see Brook standing there, his sword gripped in his hand. He quickly leapt over next to Zoro, who nodded in agreement.

"Right!" he said, putting Wado Ichimonji back in his mouth. "Then let's finish this, Benjamin McAllister!"

* * *

Armed with the knowledge of the past, Zoro and Brook continue their fight!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	110. A Shattered Companionship 4: Swordplay

The marine's tale comes to an end... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**110: A Shattered Companionship 4- Swordplay**

Hawkeye Mihawk sheathed his world-famous blade and stepped on to the sidelines of the battle. There, he tilted his hat up slightly, revealing the stoic look on his face. _"Now, Roronoa Zoro,"_ he thought to himself, _"we'll see how far you've truly come…"_

Both Zoro and Brook gripped their swords and rushed straight towards Benjamin McAllister, who conversely raised his blade to defend himself. Raising his nodachi up, the ex-marine brought his free hand crashing down on the back of the blade, swinging it down with dizzying efficiency.

"Rokushiki Style: Rankyaku Hammer!"

The blade flew between the two Straw Hats, and as Zoro leapt to the side to avoid it, Brook leapt high into the air, letting out a tittering laugh while doing it. When he was positioned right over Benjamin, he pointed his sword downward and flew towards him, yelling, "Swallow Leap Forward!"

Benjamin barely had time to yell "Soru!" and disappear as Brook's sword hit the ground, causing it to crack.

As soon as Benjamin reappeared, he felt a powerful burst of air strike him in his chest, causing him to cough up blood. He looked and saw Zoro standing there, smiling and saying, "108 Pound Cannon!"

With a snarl, Benjamin disappeared and reappeared behind Zoro again, slamming his nodachi down on Zoro, who was able to parry it. Before Zoro could react, Benjamin shot his foot straight into Zoro's stomach, yelling, "Rankyaku!"

A cut immediately appeared as Zoro let out a roar of pain. Before he could retreat, however, Benjamin cocked back his index finger and shot it into Zoro's chest, yelling, "Shigan!"

Zoro dropped to his knees momentarily as Benjamin raised his blade to finish him, but Brook quickly appeared at the ex-marine's side and began thrusting his sword at him in several quick successions, saying, "Polka Remise!"

Benjamin was forced to use his nodachi to block the blows, allowing Zoro to regain his strength and rush to Brook's side. The two Straw Hats quickly began to overpower Benjamin, who was hard-pressed defending both attacks. Thinking fast, he dropped his sword and said, "Kami-e!"

His body quickly went limp and he was able to avoid all of the attacks. Zoro quickly leapt back and then immediately rushed forward again, yelling, "Streaming Wolf Swords!"

He quickly appeared on the other side of Benjamin, and several small wounds immediately sprang from his body, causing him to grunt in pain. Zoro looked at him with a smirk and said, "You'll have to do better than that to beat both of us!"

_"No, at his peak, Benjamin easily could have easily countered that,"_ Mihawk thought, _"yet he wasn't able to. The fight must be taking is toll on him."_ He glanced at Zoro and Brook, who were also both breathing and bleeding heavily and finished, _"Them as well…"_

"Soru!" snarled Benjamin, disappearing and putting a safe distance between him and his enemies.

With a laugh, Brook leapt forward and rushed towards Benjamin, his sword pointing towards him, getting him ready to strike. Benjamin did likewise and put his index finger at the hilt of his sword.

"Gavotte: Leap Forward!" said Brook as he thrust his sword straight at Benjamin when in range.

"Rokushiki Style: Shigan Thrust!"

Both swordsmen ended up on the other side from where they started, and while Benjamin got a slash on his shoulder, Brook collapsed to his knees and dropped his sword in pain. Looking at Zoro, Benjamin smirked, "Don't underestimate me just yet, partner…"

Zoro growled as he rushed towards Benjamin yelling, "Oni Giri!"

"Rokushiki Style: Shigan Thrust!"

Benjamin struck his sword tip right at the place where all three of Zoro's blades met, stopping the attack dead in its tracks just before it could strike. "Don't insult me with attacks I've seen a thousand times," the ex-marine said. "If I attack just at the right point at the right time, your move is finished!"

_"Damn…" _Zoro thought_. "Just like when Mihawk…"_

The Straw Hat swordsman glanced at the former Shichibukai, still content with sitting back and watching; Benjamin noticed.

"LOOK AT ME, GOD DAMMIT!" Benjamin roared, kicking Zoro right in his ribs yet not bothering with any Rokushiki techniques. "I'M YOUR OPPONENT, NOT HAWKEYE!"

Zoro quickly pulled away, but before he knew it, Benjamin used Soru to get right in front of him and punched Zoro right in the face with a Tekkai-powered fist. Zoro grunted and stumbled backwards before finally dropping to his back.

Benjamin simply stood there, breathing heavily and staring at his opponent. "Hard work just isn't enough, Roronoa Zoro.

_(Fordrin whipped out his dagger and threw it straight at Jack)_

Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, it simply isn't enough. In the end, the enemy will still win, and you'll be the one left on the floor in a bloody mess…"

Zoro used Wado Ichimonji as a cane to slowly prop himself up. Benjamin saw this and was surprised when he saw a smile on his face. When he strained his ears hard enough, he could hear Zoro laughing. Enraged, he launched his foot straight at Zoro's face and sent him back into the ground, asking, "WHAT'S SO FUCKING FUNNY?"

_"He's so angry he's not even using Rokushiki anymore,"_ observed Mihawk. _"Is this part of Roronoa's taunt, or is it…"_

Zoro helped himself up yet again, still keeping his wolfish grin. "I'm sorry," he finally said. "I was just laughing because of how pathetic you really are…"

"What was that?" demanded the ex-marine.

"You're just pissed off at yourself because you let your marine partner die, so you try and cover up that shame by teaming up with someone like Victor," stated Zoro.

Benjamin inched forward and pointed his sword at Zoro in a threatening manner. "You son of a bitch," he gritted. "How dare you say something like that!"

"So since the Marines didn't work out for you, yet you didn't know how to end your guilt," Zoro persisted. "So you settled for working with Victor and attempting to bring about complete destruction of the pirate world, all because you can't let go…Talk about childish…"

Benjamin began walking towards Zoro, rage clearly prevalent on his face, his grip tighter on his nodachi than ever. "Don't act like you know what you're talking about, brat! If you say another word, I'll end you right now!"

_("in short, we would like you to consider a position for the Shichibukai")_

Zoro stood still, not budging, yet still talking to his enemy. "You've allowed yourself to obscure what Justice means because on the inside, you feel like an angered child. A child that is mad at its parents for not punishing someone else like they should have…"

_"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"_ Benjamin finally roared, getting within striking distance of Zoro.

"How dare you call yourself a swordsman…"

Benjamin raised his sword up high, putting his hand on the back of the blade, getting ready to strike. "So tell me then, Zoro, what is a real swordsman?"

Zoro smirked and looked behind Benjamin, answering, "A real swordsman never compromises his ideals and never surrenders, no matter how bad things look!"

"Enough! Die!"

"Three-Verse Humming: Arrow-Notch Slash!"

Brook sped past Benjamin and was suddenly next to Zoro, his sword and sheath held out in front of him. Benjamin looked at the skeleton with a shocked expression, and then looked back at the grinning Zoro. Brook began putting his sword in its sheath, saying, "It's over, Benjamin McAllister. A true swordsman and gentleman also knows when to sur—"

Quick as lightning, Benjamin threw his sword up and launched both his fists at Brook's exposed back, yelling, "ROKUGAN!"

A large blast of compressed air flew and struck Brook's back, cutting him off and sending him flying forward just before his sword went fully into its sheath. Brook landed several feet away with a grunt on his face, yet still held his sword and sheath in front of him. In less than a second after he hit, he pushed the weapon fully into its sheath, sending out a small clicking sound.

As soon as the sound hit, Brook's wound took effect, opening a large slash on Benjamin's back and causing him to step forward to brace himself. At this point, Zoro had leapt back and when he had enough space between them, rushed towards Benjamin yet again.

Two more Zoro's suddenly appeared to merge with the Straw Hat swordsman, making nine blades in all. Benjamin was finally able to brace himself and catch his falling nodachi, before looking up and being struck with a mixture of awe and fear.

"Nine Sword Style: Asura!"

Benjamin snapped himself out of it but knew he didn't have time to dodge. Desperate, he held his nodachi out right in front of him

_("need a hand, partner?")_

and placed his forearm at the back of the blade, yelling, "Rokushiki Style: Tekkai Shield!"

_"Amazing, so this is what you've been doing, Roronoa Zoro…"_ thought the surprised Mihawk, his eyes widening as he leaned forward in anticipation.

As Zoro barreled towards Benjamin, he began to hold the swords in his hands at an angle and began to rotate them rapidly, like windmills, creating a deadly momentum. "Asura: Three Thousand Worlds!"

_"Help me, Victor,"_ Benjamin thought desperately as Zoro was just about to strike. _"You promised we'd destroy all pirates like him faster and better than the Marines ever could! You said we'd do it in the name of Justice…Justice…Just—"_

It was over in a flash.

Zoro flew past Benjamin and landed neatly behind him, the other two images of him disappearing. Without even a word, Zoro took Wado Ichimonji out of his mouth and sheathed all three of his blades, leaving Benjamin to stand in the same position. Then, suddenly, Benjamin's nodachi began to crack, and within another split second, it shattered and an enormous slash appeared on Benjamin's chest, spurting out blood and sending him falling to the floor face-first, dropping his broken blade.

Mihawk raised an eyebrow when he saw this and thought, _"So you've even learned to cut steel, eh, Roronoa Zoro? You have gotten better…"_

As soon as Benjamin hit the ground, Zoro dropped to his knees and took off his black bandana with one hand and gripping his chest with another. His face showed a lot of pain, but it disappeared with surprise when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned around to see Brook standing there, also bloodied and damaged, but still conscious and smiling.

"Good job…partner," said the skeleton.

Zoro couldn't help but grin and nod as Brook helped him up, putting an arm around his shoulder to help carry him. Brook couldn't help but look at his crewmate and ask, "So where do we go now?"

Zoro grunted as he gingerly touched one of his wounds and responded, "I dunno…I'm willing to bet Luffy's fighting Victor right now, so I guess we should find the others."

"Just you wait a minute…partner…"

Both Straw Hats turned around to see Benjamin barely standing across from them, blood leaking out of his wounds, his breathing heavy, and his eyes clouded and barely conscious.

"You should learn to quit before I work myself to the bone beating you," Brook warned. "Oh wait…I am bones, yohoho!"

"Shut up…" wheezed Benjamin. "Justice still needs to be served…to petty pirates like you…"

Zoro craned his neck to one side saying, "Give it up, your sword is shattered. There's no way to beat us now. Just accept your defeat for now…and try again later."

"No…not over," the ex-marine persisted. "Soru…"

He suddenly appeared in front of the two and quickly cocked his finger back, looking at the two surprised swordsmen with a half-crazy grin on his face. "Time to face real justice you scum…Shigan!"

Benjamin's finger never hit either Straw Hat. Before it could strike their flesh, it struck black steel, instantly breaking Benjamin's index finger. With a howl of pain, he stepped away while gripping his finger, looking at Hawkeye Mihawk who was right in front of him with his usual stony expression and piercing gaze.

"It's over, Benjamin," declared Mihawk. "Do not dishonor the name of a swordsman by continuing when you're clearly beaten, for if you even try that, I will not hesitate to finish you myself!"

"Damn…it…" mouthed Benjamin before dropping back to the ground in an unconscious form.

Mihawk let out a small sigh and sheathed his sword, walking away with his back facing the two Straw Hats. "Well then," he started, "if you two would follow me, I'd—"

"Wait!"

Mihawk turned around with an eyebrow raised. He saw Roronoa Zoro unsheathing Wado Ichimonji and staring at Mihawk with a fiery expression on his face. "This isn't over," he said proudly. "Now you're going to fight me!"

"Zoro, are you crazy?" demanded Brook. "There's no way you can fight him now!"

"Shut up!" roared Zoro, still staring at the clearly-amused Mihawk. "Fight me right now, and get ready to lose the title as the World's Greatest Swordsman!"

Mihawk couldn't help but crack a grin as he simply said, "No, I'm afraid not Roronoa Zoro. Today is not the day where you fight me."

"Bullshit!" shouted Zoro. "You're not getting away from me now! I'm ready to beat you!"

Mihawk nodded and said, "Perhaps you are, but not in the state you're in right now. It is not my job to fight you this day, Roronoa Zoro, but soon enough it will happen, don't worry…"

This seemed to assuage Zoro to a degree as he sheathed Wado Ichimonji with a clearly pissed-off gaze. Brook patted Zoro on the back and said, "He's right, Zoro. If you tried to fight him now, you'd die instantly."

Zoro pointed his sheathed Wado Ichimonji and the ex-Shichibukai and loudly proclaimed, "Soon, Hawkeye Mihawk, I will fight you at full strength and steal your title away from you!"

"If that's what fate has in store," was all Mihawk said, turning around again. "Now, if you'd follow me that would be greatly appreciated."

"Follow you where?" asked Brook.

Mihawk turned around and simply said, "I'm taking you to your Captain…"

— — —

Both Sir Crocodile and Rear-Admiral White Chase Smoker were able to dodge Aliyyah the Typhoons high-stream water attack, deftly leaping out of the way. Both the marine and ex-Shichibukai looked at each other instead of Aliyyah and glared daggers.

"Stay out of my way, pirate!" demanded Smoker, grabbing his jutte ad rushing towards Aliyyah, yet still only looking at Crocodile.

Crocodile let out a small grunt of annoyance and replied, "I don't think so. Just head back and let everyone else take all the glory you'll then take credit for. It's what you were best at in Alabasta, anyways."

Aliyyah smirked at the two fighters and said, "Now boys, I should warn you, my powers are much more powerful than both of yours combined, so I would suggest you attack together and—"

"Say that again!" barked an angered Smoker, stopping dead in his tracks to confront Crocodile, cutting Aliyyah off.

Sir Crocodile didn't back down and pointed to Aliyyah with his hook without even looking at her, saying back, "If you can't hear it the first time, then it's a waste saying it again. Just stay outta my way!"

"YOU STAY OUTTA MY WAY!" shot back Smoker.

A visible vein appeared on Aliyyah's forehead as she shot another burst of water at the two, yelling, "STOP IGNORING ME YOU IDIOTS!"

* * *

Crocodile and Smoker working together. It'll all work out, right?

**Behind the Character (12): Benjamin McAllister**

I created Benjamin in mind to be the swordsman the Straw Hat Crew would eventually have to fight when it came to it (particularly Zoro), but upon first glance, I thought he was rather boring. I mean, there's been a plethora of straight-up swordsmen in One Piece, and I wanted Benjamin to stand out above the rest. Then, my mind flashed to one of my favorite One Piece characters, Kaku, the swordsman of CP9. When looking at him, though, I was disappointed to see that he used Rokushiki more than actual swordplay, and so, the Benjamin McAllister as you knew it was born.

Personality-wise, I wanted him to feel jaded due to his tragic past, eventually turning him into a cynical character who would do anything to achieve his goals, which meant staying with Victor and listening to what he said. While in his past, he was a justice-loving, kind man, the events that shaped him eventually turned him into a wicked cynic, who still believed in justice, no matter what it took.

Design-wise, there's no specific model. Since he was a former Vice-Admiral, I gave him a suit to wear, and after being inspired by Admiral Akainu, I also gave him a cap that was reminiscent of the marine one. To give him a sense of being a grizzled veteran, I gave him a leathered and scarred face, and I think it all went together quite nicely.

I personally love Benjamin's fighting style. A long time ago when I read _Rurouni Kenshin_, there was a character named Enishi who practiced the style of Watojutsu, combining martial arts and swordplay into one dynamic fighting style. And when I looked at Zoro's battle with Kaku, I was slightly-disappointed to see that never happened, so I decided Benjamin would create his own swordsmanship style combining his Rokushiki training, thus creating the Rokushiki Style. It was fun to write, and thought it was something really different from the One Piece fights, which I always see as a good thing.

His past is also a favorite of mine, entailing how a staunch marine fell from grace due to a single event. All-in-all, Benjamin was a character I enjoyed greatly, and I am very happy with how he turned out.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	111. Soak the Sand with Smoke

It's a battle royale between Logia-users! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**111: Soak the Sand with Smoke**

Smoker and Crocodile's argument came to a close when they both sense the water coming. They both hopped out of the way, letting the jet-stream fly harmlessly past them into the ocean. Aliyyah stood there, the vein still visible on her forehead.

"I don't like being ignored," she seethed.

Smoker ignored her and pointed his jutte as Crocodile, saying, "Listen, pirate scum, I was ordered to capture the Corps of Kings and that's what I'm gonna do, so you don't interest me. But if you get in my way, I will happily find a reason to bring you in as well."

"Pirate scum, eh?" asked Crocodile, taking a puff on his cigar. "You can arrest me, if you're able to, that is."

"What was that?" asked an irked Smoker, shifting his position to strike up a fighting stance with Crocodile. "As if an a disgraced ex-Shichibukai who didn't do anything after breaking out of Impel Down could stop me!"

A look of rage appeared on Crocodile's face for a second, as he raised his hook threateningly towards Smoker. "Insult me again, and I won't think twice about ending your pitiful life right here and now! Now stay out of my way and let me beat the girl quickly!"

"I said she's my target!" shot back Smoker quickly.

Aliyyah looked at this back and forth, her rage slowly building. Finally, she reached the breaking point as she let out a massive roar, summoning a large wave of water behind her, yelling, _"I SAID I DON'T LIKE BEING IGNORED!"_

The two looked to see Aliyyah send the large wave flying towards them, and they both leapt away from it once again, coming out of it unscathed. They both looked to see a panting Aliyyah, her young face stamped with rage.

Smoker and Crocodile looked at each other before both shrugged and they seemed to come to a consensus. "Then I guess it's an all-out brawl…" started Crocodile.

"…And whoever beats her first wins!" finished Smoker. He aimed his jutte at Aliyyah and turned the bottom half of his body into smoke, propelling him towards her, yelling, "White Launcher!"

Aliyyah smirked at him and struck up a fighting stance. "Come on…"

Just before Smoker was in striking range, the beach underneath both Smoker and Aliyyah began to shift, and before either of them knew it, they were getting pulled into a pit of quicksand.

"Desert Girasole!"

"Hey, what the!" Aliyyah said immediately as her legs quickly got swallowed up in sand.

Smoker quickly craned his head back to Crocodile and shouted, "Dammit, Crocodile! Don't get me caught up in this too!"

Sir Crocodile smiled as he puffed on his cigar, saying, "We're on a beach, so I'm just using my inherent advantage. Don't blame me if it's not fair."

Aliyyah quickly turned the bottom half of her body into water and sent herself flying out of the sandpit by propelling herself upward, yelling, "Soak Lift!"

Smoker quickly followed suit as Aliyyah landed back onto the beach and aimed her index finger at the stationary Crocodile in the shape of a gun. She winked at Crocodile and said, "Water Gun!"

A small yet powerful burst of water shot out of her index finger towards Crocodile, who stood still as the blast of water flew towards him. Before it hit him, he held out his right hand and used it to block the attack, absorbing all the water in it.

Aliyyah's face showed surprise as she thought, _"That's the second time he's done that…it's no coincidence."_

Crocodile didn't wait for her as he quickly turned his right arm into sand and stabbed the ground, causing a thin blade to fly at her at incredible speeds. "Desert Spada!"

Aliyyah quickly leapt out of the way, but her leg was unfortunately in the attacks path and was cleanly cut off. Aliyyah didn't scream out, but merely showed a sign of annoyance as she hit the ground. It didn't take long for her leg to reform and for her to straighten herself up, grinning at Crocodile.

"You really are as good as they say," she said in a pleasant tone. "Sir Crocodile, eater of the Sand-Sand Fruit. And here I thought all those rumors about you being able to absorb liquids were false, but I guess I was wrong."

Crocodile didn't look amused as he said in a blunt tone, "I don't really care what you heard. I only care about what you _know_, so why don't you just give up and tell me everything you know about Victor."

Aliyyah couldn't help but let out a small laugh as she shook her head. "No, I'm afraid that won't happen. You see, if I let any kind of information slip, well…the consequences might be dire, and I'm far more afraid of Victor than I am of you."

"Well I guess we'll have to change that," said Crocodile darkly, readying his right arm for attack.

Aliyyah kept her smile as she aimed her arm at Crocodile. "It's no use, I'm afraid. I've also heard that if you get soaked in water, you'll be unable to come apart. I'm afraid that today you've gone against your natural enemy. Typh—"

"White Out!"

Aliyyah couldn't finish her attack from surprise when she was suddenly surrounded by a large amount of smoke that turned incredibly dense, grabbing hold of her. Smoker quickly appeared behind her and raised his jutte to attack, saying through his two cigars, "Don't forget that I'm also your enemy, and I'm a bigger threat than Crocodile ever was!"

"I see…" said Aliyyah in a slightly-amused tone.

Before Rear-Admiral Smoker could strike her with his jutte, a circular ring of water appeared around Aliyyah, pushing the smoke away from her body. It didn't take long for the swirling circle of water to rise in size and completely overcome her in height, spinning around her like a tornado.

"Whirlpool!" she yelled through the swirling current, as she sent the tornado of water towards the surprised Smoker, who was prepared to react.

"Sables!"

A tornado of sand quickly flew towards the towering whirlpool, both of them hitting and cancelling each other out. Aliyyah turned to see Crocodile standing there with his same lazy smirk, his cigar planted firmly in his mouth.

Smoker quickly leapt away and landed close to Crocodile, demanding, "Why the hell did you help me out? I could have taken care of that on my own!"

"Shut up," was all Crocodile said, not even bothering to look at him.

Smoker didn't waste any more time as he cocked his fist back and shot it towards Aliyyah, turning his arm into smoke yet keeping his fist solid, yelling, "White Blow!"

Aliyyah didn't even bother to move as she let the blow go right through her, having Smoker only punch water instead as his arm flew through her chest.

"A battle with three Logia's certainly is interesting," Aliyyah said as Smoker quickly retracted his fist. "Plume-Plume, Sand-Sand, and Soak-Soak, it almost seems like none of us can hurt each other…"

Smoker quickly massaged his arm gently and looked at it with a concerned face. Crocodile noticed this and raised an eyebrow curiously. The Rear-Admiral looked at Aliyyah and started, "You don't mean…"

"My power, however," continued Aliyyah, undeterred by Smoker's comment, "give me a unique advantage over all Devil Fruit-Users. If someone's submerged too long in the water I create, then it's just the same as being thrown into the ocean. You're lucky your fist wasn't through my body too long, or else something bad might have happened."

Crocodile didn't seem to pay the comment any heed as he immediately rushed towards Aliyyah, saying, "Enough of this; Crescent Cutlass!"

The ex-Shichibukai swung his right arm straight towards Aliyyah, who countered by transforming her own arm into a sword and swinging it back, having both strike each other. To Aliyyah's surprise, it didn't soak Crocodile's arm, but instead made _her_ entire arm disappear. With a concerned groan, she leapt back and quickly reformed her arm, looking at Crocodile with a scowl.

"Such abilities don't concern me when I have the power to dry you up into nothing," stated Crocodile.

Taking advantage of this, Smoker propelled himself forward and was able to strike the unprepared Aliyyah right in her stomach with his jutte, winding her and having her grunt in pain while gripping her stomach. She quickly reacted by transforming her arm into a hammer and swinging it right at Smoker's head, saying, "Hammer Soak!"

The attack passed right through Smoker as he was able to get one more hit out with his jutte, sending Aliyyah sprawling to the ground before quickly recovering and getting back up again, only to feel the sand beneath her begin to shift again as she was getting pulled into another sandpit.

"Desert Girasole," said Crocodile calmly as he put his hand to the ground.

Aliyyah quickly launched herself out of the quicksand and shot a high-stream burst of water towards Crocodile, yelling, "Typhoon!"

"White Out!"

A large amount of smoke quickly enveloped the attack and Aliyyah, who turned herself into water to wriggle out of it, only to have Smoker launch himself towards her throwing another fist at her, yelling, "White Blow!"

Aliyyah quickly summoned a small wave of water to bring in front of her, letting Smoker's fist hit a dense wall of liquid. He quickly pulled back and Aliyyah breathed a small sigh of relief, but that was gone almost instantly when she felt Sir Crocodile right behind her, his hook ready to strike.

She quickly turned around as something seemed to form in her mouth. Right before Crocodile could hit, she shot a ball of water out of her mouth, flying straight towards the surprised Crocodile. "Water Cannon!"

Crocodile instinctively raised up his right arm up as a defense, and the ball of water hit its target, drenching Crocodile's right arm. Aliyyah saw this and smiled, having Crocodile mutter, "Damn…"

Moving quickly, Aliyyah turned her arm into a sword and went to strike, yelling, "Soak Sword!"

A gash traveling upwards appeared on Crocodile's arm, having blood spray out of it as Crocodile grunted in annoyance, pulling away from his enemy for now. Aliyyah smiled yet again as she saw Smoker launching towards her with his jutte ready to strike. With a quick flick of the wrist, sent a small current of water flying from her hand low to the ground and as soon as it was close enough, swerved upward to hit Smoker's outstretched arm, severing it and sending his jutte flying into the air.

The Typhoon quickly propelled herself into the air and was able to grab the jutte quickly, just as Smoker launched after her in a spiral motion yelling, "White Vine!"

Just as Smoker was about to strike, Aliyyah smashed him right across the face with his own jutte, sending him barreling to the ground with blood flying out of his mouth. Aliyyah followed quickly and stretched out her arm, sticking the point of the jutte right on Smoker's chest.

She looked down at him with a smirk and said, "This club with the seastone in it is pretty handy, don'tcha think? Hope you don't mind if I take it."

Smoker attempted to move, but found he lost most of his strength. He simply stared at Aliyyah's eyes with his own stony ones until he heard, "Desert Spada!"

A thin and quick line flew between Aliyyah and Smoker but was able to sever Aliyyah's outstretched arm, sending the jutte falling back into Smoker's chest, who gladly grabbed it and thrust it straight at Aliyyah's shoulder, sending her flying back.

Before Smoker could make a follow-up strike, Aliyyah leapt up and distanced herself away from her two enemies. Smoker spat on the ground as Crocodile appeared right next to him, his right arm still wet, but no longer bleeding from the wound. He looked at the blood flowing from Smoker's mouth.

"Got you too, huh?"

Smoker nodded, too concerned with Aliyyah to take insult with Crocodile's tone of voice when he said that. "She's tough…" was all he said.

Crocodile puffed on his cigar as he nodded in agreement. "Neither of us are gonna get anywhere if we try to attack her individually. If we attack together, we can take her out in one coordinated strike."

"How do we do that?" inquired the marine.

Crocodile motioned his head to the ocean at their side. "I'd say if we get her there, she'd drown just like the rest of us…"

Aliyyah had regained her composure as several small bullet-sized water balls started detaching from her body until she was surrounded by them. "I'd suggest you stop talking boys, or else you'll fall prey to the Soak Bullets!"

With that, she threw her arms forward and sent all the bullets flying towards the two. Smoker shot both his arms out and summoned a large amount of smoke, yelling, "White Out!"

The dense smoke quickly enveloped the water-bullets, stopping the attack. As Smoker did this, Crocodile leapt forward and created a small tornado in his hand. With a quick throw towards Aliyyah, he yelled, "Sables!"

The surprised Aliyyah could do nothing as she was swept up into the air from the sandstorm. "Go!" Crocodile ordered, looking at Smoker, who saw Aliyyah and nodded.

"White Vine!" yelled Smoker as he flew into the air in a spiral motion.

The airborne Aliyyah found that she couldn't dodge while in midair, and as a result, Smoker was able to cock back his jutte and swinging it straight at her stomach, sending her flying through the air and over the ocean due to the impact. "Shit!" she cursed as she looked below her.

"Now when she falls in, we can drag her out and make her talk," said Crocodile, inhaling some of his cigar smoke.

Unfortunately for both Smoker and Crocodile, before Aliyyah hit the water, she clapped her hands together and separated them. Surprisingly, the water seemed to follow her movement and part for her, leaving her to land on damp earth instead of into the water.

"What?" Smoker said immediately. "She can manipulate water that wasn't made by her too?"

Crocodile grimaced and explained, "It must be by the same principle of how I can manipulate all the sand around me, even if I didn't create it myself…"

Aliyyah stood up and slowly started walking towards the shore, a large wave of water forming behind her. A bit of rage showed in her voice as she yelled, "Now you'll see why you two should fear the name of Typhoon!"

Both Smoker and Crocodile grimaced at the sight they saw.

* * *

Not as easy as they anticipated...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	112. The Typhoon

A glimpse into the Typhoon's past... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**112: The Typhoon**

_"Hey, Mommy, where are we going?"_

_Aliyyah's mother looked down at her eight-year-old daughter and smiled, saying, "I said we're going some place special, sweetie, remember?"_

_Aliyyah beamed and giggled, saying, "I know, but I just don't like being kept in the dark or being left out."_

_Aliyyah's mother patted her daughter on the head and said kindly, "Just be patient, baby. You know I don't like to leave you out of the loop, but this time I have to."_

_"If you say so, Mommy, then I guess it's okay," said the cheerful Aliyyah, grabbing her mother's hand as they continued walking._

— — —

The wave behind Aliyyah the Typhoon got bigger and bigger as she continued to move her hands in a rhythmic motion, showing complete mastery of her Soak-Soak Fruit as Rear-Admiral Smoker and Sir Crocodile stared in wonder.

"This shit's coming whether we like it or not," said Crocodile bluntly. "So I hope you have a plan as to how to avoid it."

Smoker chomped down on his two cigars and replied just as bluntly. "Nope…but I sure as hell ain't gonna stand here and let her unleash that wave on us!"

With that, he launched towards Aliyyah with his jutte in hand, ready to strike her. Aliyyah saw this coming and was able to move one of her arms in a sweeping motion towards Smoker, sending a large burst-stream of ocean water flying towards him and hitting the hapless marine in his side, sending him flying towards the sand.

Crocodile used Sables to bring him back to his side and said humorlessly, "I told ya, she has complete control of saltwater now, so there's no way for us to use our intangibility to avoid this…"

Aliyyah kept building the wave up more, smiling and laughing as she did it, yelling, "Just a little bit more, boys! Soon you'll feel the bite of the Storm, and the wrath of the Typhoon!"

"No voice can reach her now," Smoker said. "Something must have snapped within her…"

— — —

_"Eh?" the pirate captain said. "I toldja to come here with your payment, not some snot-nosed kid!"_

_Aliyyah's mother quickly bowed and tapped her forehead at the captain's feet, saying, "Forgive me, sir, but this was the only thing I can think of…"_

_Aliyyah tugged at the hem of her mother's dress, asking, "Mommy, what's going on?"  
The pirate captain let out a raucous laugh and said, "Using a child as payment for your massive debts, eh? Gotta say, I've never heard of that one before!"_

_"She can do whatever you ask," the mother said. "You can teach her to cook, clean, and be completely obedient. She'll be yours for as long as you want her…"_

_The pirate captain spat on the ground and said coldly, "You're one cold bitch, ya know that? What do ya thinks gonna happen to my reputation if others find out I'm harboring some punk kid with me?"_

_Aliyyah's mother was on the verge of tears as she tried to bow even lower, begging, "Please, this was the only thing I could think of doing. Just take my daughter, and we could count everything as square; there would be no need to kill me!"_

_"Shut the fuck up!" the captain said, kicking Aliyyah's mother hard in her face, sending her to the ground. "Fine, I accept your offer. Your debts with me are squared, but I don't ever wanna see your fuckin' face again, ya hear me?"_

_Aliyyah's mother nodded fiercely and said through her tangled sobs, "Yes, sir, I understand. Thank you, thank you!"_

_"I said get outta my sight!" the captain said, throwing a bottle of alcohol towards her._

_The mother got the picture as she quickly scrambled up and began running towards the door. Aliyyah began chasing her mother, saying, "Mommy, Mommy, what's happening? Where are you going? Don't leave me with them!"_

_She was stopped when two pirates grabbed both of her arms, holding her there. "Now hold on a second, little missy," the pirate captain chuckled. "You've just been sold, so now you belong to us!"_

_Aliyyah struggled to try and move, but couldn't break the pirate's strong grip. Her mother didn't even look back as she yelled through her tears, "Mommy, tell them it's a mistake! Tell them that you love me and you would never do this sort of thing! Mommy, don't ignore me! Do you hear me? Don't ignore me!"_

_But Aliyyah's mother never even looked back and went out of the pirate captain's door, and subsequently out of Aliyyah's life forever…_

— — —

Something seemed to make Aliyyah the Typhoon self-aware, as she quickly looked behind her to confirm what she was thinking. She then looked back at Smoker and Crocodile and grinned devilishly, saying, "Well, gentlemen, I do believe it's time for your death! Fall prey to the Tsunami!"

Aliyyah threw her hands together and sent the massive wave barreling towards the beach and straight towards the two fighters. Crocodile grimaced and yelled to Smoker, "Get airborne!"

Smoker nodded and quickly leapt into the air, yelling, "White Launcher!"

Crocodile immediately dropped to the ground and slammed his right palm onto the beach. Within an instant, the sand on the entire beach started flaring up, as Crocodile sent a shockwave through the earth, yelling, "Ground Seco!"

All of the sand on the beach immediately flew into the air as Crocodile used his powers to manipulate them and began forming it together into a swirling mass. When he got it all together, he hurled it straight at the oncoming wave, yelling, "Sables Pesado!"

Aliyyah saw the attack with mild amusement

_("stupid girl, how many times do I have to tell you to clean the _entire_ ship from top to bottom?" the captain asked, kicking the ten-year-old Aliyyah in the face, sending her sprawling to the ground)_

saying, "As if that attack could do anything against an entire ocean of water!"

She used the ample amount of water surrounding her to form a swirling ball of water the same size as Crocodile's ball of sand. With a grunt she threw it straight towards his attack. Both balls struck each other in the middle of the two fighters and exploded in a flurry of water and sand, sending both fighters to the ground in recoil.

Aliyyah, however, recovered rather quickly and immediately sent the tidal wave flying towards her two enemies. Smoker saw that he wouldn't be able to dodge the attack as he simply said, "Shit…"

Crocodile moved the sand around to try and create a makeshift barrier, sending it flying towards the tidal wave, yet the sand was easily swallowed up by the water, rendering it completely useless. The wave didn't seem to care about this, as it simply kept moving towards the two with dangerous momentum, drawing closer and closer.

Both men were swallowed up by the sea and sent flying in a flurry.

— — —

_A nineteen-year-old Aliyyah was mindlessly cleaning the pirate captain's room like she always did. After eleven years of working on the same ship, she was used to the constant use of work and beatings now. _

_Eleven years of getting supplies, cooking meals, scrubbing the ship, being beaten for mistakes or failure, and acting as bait or a decoy had molded Aliyyah into what she was. And as strange as it was to say, she was used to it by now. The only difference between when she was eight and when she was nineteen was that all of the men on the crew started looking at her in a…different light._

_It disgusted her to unspeakable degrees. And while nothing had happened yet, she knew something might be coming soon…_

_She had long given up hope of getting away; she lacked the power or guts to do so and resigned herself to her fate as a cabin-girl of a pirate ship on the Grand Line. So, like usual, she kept her mind off of her troubles by daydreaming and fantasizing. At least then, she wasn't on a dingy pirate ship full of despicable men._

_The door suddenly burst open, and on instinct, Aliyyah hid, not wanting to face the wrath of whoever was entering, as she was so used to incurring._

_The captain swaggered in with a laugh, carrying a small chest with him. Behind him were three of his most-trusted men. He quickly sat down at his table and opened the chest, taking the item out within it. Aliyyah strained her eyes, but she thought she saw some kind of fruit._

_"Just look at it, men," the captain laughed. "A real Devil Fruit, sure as day! Who woulda thought we'd get such a fortune by attacking that rival crew?"_

_His three subordinates nodded in agreement, like they always did. This also disgusted Aliyyah, but for a different reason. "We should be reaching that appraiser soon, captain," one of his men said. "If the rumors about him are true, we should be able to find out what kind of power the fruit grants."_

_"Good!" the captain said proudly. "Because there's no way in hell am I eating a weak fruit! If I'm gonna give up the ability to swim for the rest of my life, I'm gonna make sure it makes me more powerful!"_

_He cautiously put the fruit back into the chest and let out another laugh, putting it in a safe place. _

_"Now remember, if the appraiser is true and we find out what kind of devil fruit it is," the captain explained, "we'll head straight for the New World; I'm tired of hanging out on the first half of the Grand Line, not accomplishing anything. With the power I'll gain, we'll be invincible!"_

_One of his men grinned wolfishly and added, "And then One Piece will be ours!"_

_The captain nodded as he and his men talked about other small topics and then left, leaving Aliyyah back into the room, alone with the Devil Fruit. This was what Aliyyah needed. The ability to give her the strength she needed to leave the crew for good._

_The question was: did she have the guts?_

— — —

Aliyyah slowly staggered onto the beach, a half-crazy grin plastered onto her face. She looked down and saw none other than Smoker's jutte there. Not wanting to pass up a golden opportunity, Aliyyah picked it up and continued walking. She looked a little further up past the beach where the forest line started and saw a large amount of fallen and splintered trees, and not far from there was none other than Rear-Admiral Smoker, his back against a tree stump while he coughed weakly, completely drenched in water.

Aliyyah threw the jutte up lightly and said quietly to herself, "Time to end it!"

Within that same second, she caught the jutte and swirled around, using it to parry Crocodile's fearsome hook. The ex-Shichibukai was drenched from head to toe, but Aliyyah saw that there was still fight in him.

Keeping her smile, she turned her arm into a sword and slashed Crocodile right across his chest, causing him to recoil back in pain, gripping his new wound. "Too bad you're drenched!" taunted Aliyyah. "Now you're nothing but fodder to me!"

"Give me back my jutte!"

Aliyyah turned around to see Smoker launching towards her, throwing a powerful fist towards her. Unfortunately for him, his blow went right through her, allowing Aliyyah to smash him in the face with his own weapon, sending a bloodied Smoker to the ground with a cough.

Crocodile attempted to use Sables against Aliyyah, but she was able to get behind him in a flash and transform her arm into a hammer, smashing Crocodile on the back of his head and sending him crashing to the ground.

There, with a jutte in her hand and bother her enemies before her, Aliyyah threw her head back and let out a raucous laugh. She cocked her free fist back and said, "Well, it's been real, but I'm afraid its time to put our tedious fight to an end. Ta-ta boys, it really was fun! Typhoon!"

"Ice Render!"

Aliyyah's attack along with her entire arm was suddenly frozen solid; in surprise she dropped the jutte in her other hand. She, along with Smoker and Crocodile, both looked confused at this, causing all three of them to look and see who the attacker was.

"Good grief, no wonder Sengoku sent me here…"

None other than Admiral Aokiji was standing at the baseline of the trees just before the beach, scratching the back of his head with his eyes closed. "Aokiji…what are you doing here?" Smoker demanded in a threatened tone.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked in a sarcastic voice, opening his eyes. "I'm here to save your ass…"

Aliyyah scowled at him, saying, "Another distraction…this is turning out to be a real pain!"

Aokiji seemed to hear her statement and nodded in agreement. "I completely agree, I just hate doing troublesome things like this…but, orders are orders, and I'm afraid you'll have to be reprimanded for your actions…"

Both Smoker and Crocodile looked at each other, then looked back at Aliyyah and Aokiji, who had engaged in a stare-down, as if seeing if each were serious enough to engage in another fight…

* * *

Backup from an Admiral.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	113. The Typhoon 2: Ice

The return of the last remaining Admiral... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**113: The Typhoon 2- Ice**

_Aliyyah felt another fresh sting to her face as she was sent sprawling to the floor, coughing up a small amount of blood. The clearly-angered captain stomped towards her in a rage, saying, "You traitorous wench!"_

_He yanked Aliyyah up by her hair and kneed her in the stomach, winding her and causing her to drop to the floor in pain._

_"How dare you do something like that behind my back!" the captain said, kicking her while she was on the floor. "None of my men are stupid enough to eat a devil fruit I told them not to, 'cause they know I'd kill them on the spot! Yet you go and eat it almost immediately!"_

_Aliyyah didn't have the guts…_

_She ate the Soak-Soak Fruit, but quickly found that she had little-to-no control over it, and when she was caught and accused of doing such a deed, she was immediately thrown onto the deck and reprimanded by the captain._

_"I-I'm sorry…" she said as blood spilled from her mouth. "I didn't mean any…disrespect…"_

_"Bullshit!" roared the captain, striking her yet again._

_He grabbed her by the throat and strode over to the edge of the ship, holding her over the water. "If you really did eat the devil fruit, then you should drown immediately," he said with a scowl. "Any last words, my dear faithful cabin-girl?"_

_Aliyyah glared into his eyes and spat right in his face. Almost immediately the captain dropped her, and she was sent into freefall towards the crushing blue._ "Shit…I'm finished,"_ she thought as she fell down. _"Guess I didn't have the guts after all…"

_Then, for some unexplained reason, Aliyyah felt some strange power welling up in her body. She didn't know what it was, but immediately tagged it as good, and out that power to work. She quickly moved her arms as she fell, and right before she hit the water, it split for her, allowing her to land on the floor with a quick thud._

_"The fuck…" the captain said as he saw this._

_Then, the sound of a cannon rang that struck the side of the ship, shaking everyone on it. They immediately looked to see another ship going towards them, its cannons at the ready._

_"Everyone, to arms!" the captain yelled. "Repel the invaders! If these bastards want to fight, we'll give 'em a fuckin' fight!"_

_Aliyyah saw this, yet closed her eyes and concentrated on keeping the water away from her, and nothing else…_

— — —

"Admiral Aokiji, eh?" Aliyyah said with her persisting grin after several seconds of staring. "It's a honor to see someone of your caliber."

Aokiji yawned and said in a lackluster tone, "I'm afraid I can't share that same distinction…"

"You've been following me this whole time?" demanded Smoker, still aghast at what Aokiji had told him a minute before.

_(a bicycle chime could be heard coming up on Ember Isle…)_

Aokiji looked at Smoker and raised his hands up in a nonthreatening motion. "Chill, chill. I was ordered by Sengoku to follow you in case anything happened, and clearly that thought was justified."

"Still…" Smoker said, trying to find words for his outrage, yet finding none.

Sir Crocodile only sat there, not caring one way or the other.

Aliyyah cleared her throat in a loud spectacle, getting everyone's attention. She quickly smashed her frozen arm against the ground, shattering it in an instant, yet quickly using water to regain it in another.

"I do wish you would stop ignoring me," she said. "I hate being ignored…"

"And I hate attacking such a sexy lady," Aokiji replied back. "Can't we come to some kind of agreement without us fighting or something?"

Aliyyah shook her head. "Afraid not, Admiral. Now that you've shown up, I'm going to have to kill you as well."

Aokiji shook his head and said, "Such a shame…And here I thought you were rational."

"Indeed!" Aliyyah said, aiming her newly-reformed arm at Aokiji. "Typhoon!"

The large jet-stream of water flew towards Aokiji, who simply waved his arm in front of it and said, "Ice Age…"

The water froze in an instant, shocking Aliyyah. Aokiji took advantage of this and leapt onto the beach, sending a wave of ice flying low towards the ground at Aliyyah, saying, "Ice Time Capsule!"

Aliyyah quickly turned the bottom half of her body into a torrent of water and burst into the sky. However, the ice was able to catch up with her and freeze the entire bottom half of her body, stopping her while in midair. Thinking quickly, Aliyyah turned her arm into a hammer and smashed the ice, freeing her and allowing her to reform and land on the ground.

Aokiji picked up a handful of sand and threw it into the air, blowing his icy breath upon it and turning it into a jagged icicle, saying, "Ice Saber!"

He rushed towards her with it while Aliyyah former her arm into a sword, parrying Aokiji's attack while she said, "Soak Sword!"

Her arm them instantly began to freeze, and the shocked Aliyyah quickly pulled away and smashed and reformer her arm again. In desperation, she summoned up a large amount of water from behind her and launched it straight at Aokiji, yelling, "Tsunami!"

Aokiji leapt straight towards it, aiming his arm at it and yelling, "Pheasant Peck!"

A large piece of ice shaped like a pheasant's tail flew from his hands and straight towards the water flying towards him. As soon as it tapped the water, it froze it in its place, yet even after that, ice shards flew from it and went straight through Aliyyah, causing her to grunt in surprise as it passed right through her.

She glanced at Aokiji with a fearful look while he said calmly, "Ice trumps water every time. It's no use…"

"Shut up!" Aliyyah yelled, forming a swirling ball of water from her palm. "Sea Sunder!"

With a quick grunt, she chucked it straight at Aokiji. It flew at speeds much faster than Aokiji anticipated, and as a result, he was struck in the leg with it, the ball of water enveloping up to his knee.

Surprise showed on the Admiral's face as he saw that his leg wouldn't move. Aliyyah laughed at this and said, "Anything my water envelops for an extended period of times becomes just like the ocean to them! It's like your leg was suddenly enveloped in the ocean!"

"I see…" Aokiji said in his usual tone.

He kneeled down and touched the ground, sending a wave of ice flying towards Aliyyah, who was able to leap into the air and avoid it in time and land behind the surprised Aokiji. She quickly created another ball and threw it at him, yelling, "Sea Sunder!"

This enveloped Aokiji's left arm, also rendering it useless. Moving fast, Aokiji was able to grab Aliyyah's arm and start to freeze it, saying, "Ice Time!"

Aliyyah moved fast and transformed her free arm into a sword, severing her arm that was frozen and freeing herself from Aokiji's grasp. With a sigh, her arm reformed, creating another water ball and throwing it at Aokiji, yelling, "Sea Sunder!"

This time it struck Aokiji's other leg, leaving him completely immobile save for his right arm. He looked at his predicament and said to himself, "Well this is annoying…"

Aliyyah, on the other hand, laughed loudly at his predicament, saying, "Even if you have the power to freeze my attacks, I can always one-up you, because I _am_ the power of the sea!"

"Power of the sea, eh?" he asked while raising an eyebrow. "That's quite a stretch, I think, making you quite unworthy of it."

"Shut up!" spouted Aliyyah. "You have no right to talk when you're about to die! All pirates are pigs and the marines don't seem to care! Killing an admiral should send a message to the World Government showing how completely useless they are!"

"Such a fool…" Aokiji muttered. He put his hand just an inch away from the sphere of water surrounding his arm and said, "Ice Ball…"

Ice shot out of his hand and suddenly froze the entire ball of water, allowing Aokiji to shatter it and let his arm reform undamaged. "No…" Aliyyah muttered. "That's not fair…that's not…"

"All's fair in a battle between a marine and pirate," Aokiji said, quickly freezing the remaining two spheres around his legs, shattering them, and subsequently reforming them himself.

"DON'T CALL ME A PIRATE!" demanded Aliyyah, moving to attack.

Aokiji touched the floor and said, "Ice Time Capsule!"

The wave of ice swept the floor and caught Aliyyah's feet, trapping her before she could do anything. Before she could react, Aokiji was right in front of her, yet she surprisingly spat in his face and said with a half-crazed grin, "No matter what you do, I'll just shatter the ice and reform myself!"

Aokiji didn't grace her with words as he just thrust his arm straight through her. Aliyyah looked at this and said boastfully, "Fool! Sticking your arm in me is the same as getting trapped in that water!"

Then, she grunted in pain, as she looked below and saw that emanating from Aokiji's arm inside of her was ice, and it was freezing her from the inside. She let out a gasp of pain and said, "Wait…no…don't…"

_(she lacked the power or guts to do so and resigned herself to her fate)_

"If freezing you from the outside doesn't work," Aokiji said, "then I'll just have to freeze you from the inside!"

_"Shit, he acted so fast I had no time to counteract his devil fruit,"_ thought Aliyyah desperately, _"and once something turns into ice, it's his domain! There's nothing I can do!"_

She looked up to see Aokiji's stony expression, not even bothering to look at her, just focusing on what he was doing.

Aliyyah gritted her teeth at him and yelled, "You idiot! You're ruining the future! By doing this, you're letting pirates and their acts of inhumanity go unpunished! You marines are weak, and you're stopping the only power that can change the world! God dammit, you're ruining _EVERYTHING_!"

Aokiji ignored her comments.

Both Smoker and Crocodile watched in amazement as this entire spectacle took place.

— — —

_Three years ago, Aliyyah was pulled up from the ocean floor based on the water from which she split and was suddenly put up onto the deck of the ship that attacked her former pirate crew's ship._

_She looked around warily and saw only a few people on board. She scowled at them, but knew that if they had the power to sink the ship she was a part of for eleven years within seconds, then they could easily kill her if they wanted._

_Their apparent leader walked towards Aliyyah and held his hand out in a warm gesture. "We saw what happened," he said in a soft voice. "That was pretty amazing of you, to defy your captain like that."_

_"He was _not_ my captain," said Aliyyah immediately. "He was a slaver, and a piss-poor one at that!"_

_The man let out a laugh that lasted for several seconds. When it died down, he looked at Aliyyah and said, "You've got this fire in you; I like that. My name's Victor, and I—like you—happen to hate pirates. So how would you like to join us in our quest to end the lives of all pirates for good?"_

_Aliyyah looked at Victor skeptically, but finally asked, "You sure? You sound like you're fulla shit to me!"_

_Victor let out another laugh, but then nodded and said, "I assure you it's possible. And with your power to split the ocean, you'd easily be a welcome addition to our crew and plan. So what do you say, Miss…?"_

_"Aliyyah," she said. "You can call me Aliyyah the Typhoon. And you I'd like to hear your so-called plan before I commit to anything, as much as I'd like to get revenge on pirates anyway…"_

_Victor grinned and nodded, saying, "If that's what you wish, then listen closely…"_

— — —

Aliyyah the Typhoon stood there, completely frozen from head to toe, no longer able to move, act, or speak. Across form her Aokiji sighed and said, "Such a shame…if you just didn't attack it might not had come to this…"

Both Smoker and Crocodile watched with utter fascination; Aokiji seemed to forget that they were there entirely.

The Admiral held his foot up and put it an inch away from her chest. "Sorry to do this, but sometimes, Justice demands it be done. You sealed your fate as soon as you sided with Victor, and whatever false promises he gave you…"

_(Aliyyah's face lit up when she heard what Victor was planning on doing. Acting almost on impulse due to her last eleven years, she said, "Alright, Victor, I'll happily join your crew to get revenge!")_

Admiral Aokiji brought his foot smashing through her, shattering her into a heap of broken images…

* * *

Crushed beneath the Admiral's heel...

**Behind the Character (13): Aliyyah**

Back when designing the characters for the Corps of Kings, I knew I'd have to have at least one Logia, and since I had already decided that the second and third in command were to have Paramecia Devil Fruits, I created Aliyyah to fill that purpose, making her the only female member, keeping with a motif set by the Shichibukai, Espada from _Bleach_, and Akatsuki from _Naruto_.

Design-wise, there's no model. I created her as an attractive female, and that was it, nothing else special about it. Personality-wise, however, I wanted to make her somewhat of a complex character, always seeming flirtatious and cheerful on the outside, but really only using it as a façade to cover up the horror of her past. Eventually, the façade breaks, and her true form is revealed as a maniacal temptress who uses her power to its full potential all for her own gain.

While I was just conceptualizing the idea for this story, I already had set in stone that one of the villains would have a water-type Logia. I thought it was unique, dynamic, and set up for some interesting encounters. Unfortunately, after looking at some forums I saw that this was a relatively common idea, and I felt slightly rebuked. It didn't deter me, however, and I kept the idea anyways, wanting to add my own personal twist to it and make it in my own way, which still led to interesting encounters in their own right.

Aliyyah is probably one of the most under-developed Corps of Kings members due to her lack of screen time, but I still think she's one of the most complex when all of the development is complete, and she was a fun character to write about. But man, is it hard writing a fight between three Logia's…

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	114. Crush the WorlD's EnD

With the death of the Typhoon... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**114: Crush the WorlD's EnD**

Marine Admiral Aokiji closed his eyes and lowered his head solemnly, looking at the shattered bits of ice that were once a part of Aliyyah the Typhoon. "With your sacrifice, a million are spared, and for that, I both thank you, yet let my deepest condolences be known…"

Rear-Admiral Smoker appeared behind Aokiji, his jutte firmly grasped in his hand. Aokiji sensed him, yet didn't turn around, saying, "Yes?"

Smoker lit himself two new cigars, saying, "That was quite a fight…and as much as I hate to admit it, thank you for helping."

Aokiji turned around and smiled at Smoker for a split second before yawning heavily, scratching the back of his head, and saying, "Yeah, don't mention it…Now come on, we've gotta get back to the fleet at the Convergence Point."

"What?" said the shocked Smoker almost immediately. "Hell no, I'm continuing on and finishing Victor off!"

Aokiji shook his head, saying calmly, "I'm afraid not. I'm under direct orders from Sengoku himself to take you back to the barricade at Ember Isle. Now come on, this is not up for debate."

Smoker swiped Aokiji's arm away from him and said defiantly, "You're saying we were ordered to give up chasing Victor altogether?"

"Yes and no at the same time," replied Aokiji quickly.

Smoker raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Dr. Vegapunk's been doing research on Victor's devil fruit," the Admiral stated, "and he's come to a rather chilling conclusion…"

"What's that?" Smoker inquired almost immediately.

Aokiji already started moving away from the Rear-Admiral, saying, "Follow me and I'll tell ya."

Smoker growled as Aokiji stopped right in front of the injured and sitting Crocodile, who looked up and said coldly, "What do you want?"

Surprisingly, Aokiji extended his hand out at Crocodile, saying, "On behalf of the Marines and World Government in general, I'd like to thank you for fighting against Aliyyah."

Crocodile slapped his hand away, saying, "I didn't do it for the Marines or World Government, so spare me your thanks."

"Ararara," laughed Aokiji before walking away from Crocodile. "Whatever you say. I'm just letting you know my reasoning for not arresting you on the spot…"

Crocodile lit himself a new cigar as Smoker passed him while following Aokiji. The two gave one passing glance, before looking in different directions.

Smoker looked at Aokiji's back, while Crocodile looked towards the tree-line of the forest…

— — —

_Harbinger_ had docked on Raftel's beach not too long ago as the _Thousand Sunny_ also reached its shores. After the excitement of seeing the All Blue, Luffy, Nami, and Robin found that landing on the shores of the legendary island Raftel was much more gratifying (most likely to the chagrin of Sanji).

Luffy, of course, immediately leapt off the ship while screaming, "WAHOOOOO!" as loud as he could, landing on the sandy beaches of Raftel. Very quickly did Robin, Nami, and Big Mom follow, stopping with Luffy to marvel at the sight of the final island on the Grand Line.

Raftel in itself was a rather large island, probably a little smaller than all of the Vespian Isles put together, though. Immediately after the beach, the crew was hit with what looked to be an ancient-looking dock, although over the years, the wood has molded and nature had taken over, covering the rotting wooden structure with plant-life.

Robin stepped towards the wooden structure and created an arm, putting its hand to it. After a few seconds of knocking against it, Robin said, "This is definitely Adam Wood, but I heard it takes an incredibly long amount of time for it to rot…"

Big Mom nodded, saying, "Aye, the residents of the Ancient Kingdom had a ready supply of Adam Wood with them, and they built all of their wooden structures with it."

Robin immediately turned around and said, "So Raftel really _was_ the home of the Ancient Kingdom!"

Big Mom nodded, saying, "We found that out the first time Roger took us here, though we were no historians. The ancient ruins were enough to tell, though, and the fact that the Rio Poneglyph is here."

Robin touched the rotting structure yet again before saying to herself, "Amazing…"

Big Mom then turned to Luffy, smiling while saying, "I'd like to thank you very much for saving my life, Straw Hat. And while I truly am grateful, it pains me to say that I must depart with you for now…"

Luffy blinked in confusion. "Why's that?"

Big Mom looked past the beach deeper into the island, saying, "I have an old score to settle…"

"Wait, but you can help us navigate the island and—" Nami started.

"Nami!" interrupted Luffy. The navigator stopped in fear as her captain looked towards her, grinning. "Now what kind of adventure would this be if we had a tour-guide of the island?" he asked. He then turned to Big Mom, nodding and saying, "Go on ahead, I understand."

Big Mom beamed wide, saying, "Thank you, Straw Hat. My daughter picked her friends well!"

"Sorry I couldn't get the seastone cuffs off of you," said Nami apologetically, "but it's impossible to pick their locks."

Big Mom looked at the seastone cuffs strapping her arms behind her and said cheerfully, "That's quite alright. Don't worry about it; they didn't make me a Yonko for nothing! I hope to see you all again."

Luffy nodded and waved to her, saying, "Good luck!"

Big Mom nodded before sprinting away from the Straw Hat Crew, quickly clearing the beach and disappearing into the island to resolve her own personal business. When she was out of sight, Luffy turned to Robin and Nami and grinned widely, saying, "Well, let's get going; I smell adventure!"

Robin let out a chuckle and said, "Roger that, Captain."

— — —

Victor and Tobias moved through the overgrown vegetation and moved into a large section of ruins that seemed like it had aged well. Many of the buildings were still up, although the entire area was overgrown with plant-life, and it was deathly silent.

Victor stopped right in a large plaza-like area, sitting down on what looked to be an ancient fountain and said to his companion, "You'll have to forgive me for stopping, Tobias, but I'm afraid my memory hasn't aged well with directions on this subject matter, and I need some time to consider where we're going."

Tobias didn't seem bothered as he simply said, "It's not like we're timed anyways. Take as much time as you need, as long as you don't get us lost…"

Victor wiped sweat off his brow, despite the fact that it was a cool night underneath the moonlight, and let out a laugh, saying, "Indeed, good friend! If there was anything I learned in my experiences, it's that patience is key!"

Tobias remained silent, only closing his eyes and putting his head down, while Victor slumped while sitting, thinking of which way to go. Finally, after a few minutes, he stood up and motioned to Tobias.

"You know where to go?" the Dreamer asked with an eyebrow raised.

Victor nodded and grinned excitedly, saying, "The island is fulla these little suburban villages away from the main kingdom and palace, so the main problem is distinguishing them apart to know which way to go, but I finally got it. Let's get going, Tobias, we still have some ways to go."

"As you wish…"

_"VICTOOOOOOOOOR!"_

Both Tobias and Victor turned their heads back to see none other than Straw Hat Luffy, Nami, and Robin burst through the foliage and out into the open ruins, facing their enemy. Victor was surprised, but didn't show it, as he simply raised an eyebrow at the Captain.

"And here I thought you were bad with directions…"

Luffy struck up a proud pose and pointed his thumb to himself, saying, "I normally am, but for some reason I always knew where to go while walking on this island…"

"I just let the fool go where he wanted, since I had no idea where to start, either," Nami sighed, putting her hand to her face.

"The Will of D?" questioned Tobias, looking at Victor.

Robin chuckled and said, "The Will of D sure works in mysterious ways…I wonder why it didn't have the same effect on you, Victor…"

Victor D. Capere growled threateningly before turning to Tobias, saying, "There's no time for this. You finish them off and I'll go on ahead, setting the plan up. When I'm done, I'll come get you."

Tobias sighed internally before saying, "Very well, I'll hold them off…Go on ahead."

Victor nodded and started jogging away, adding, "Don't forget to kill them!"

"Hey, wait!" Luffy said, running towards Tobias and the running Victor, cocking a fist back. "Don't leave without a fight! Gum-Gum Pistol!"

"Dream Bind…"

Luffy was suddenly surrounded by spectral-looking black ropes with spikes at their end, cutting Luffy's body. The Straw Hat Captain let out a scream before dropping to the ground, wriggling around and looking at Tobias with hate. "You!"

Robin quickly moved into action, saying, "Cien Fleur: Delphinium!"

Robin quickly created a pathway using 100 arms. She quickly picked up the fallen Luffy and rolled him along the pathway, stopping him right in front of herself and Nami. The navigator quickly pulled out her Perfect Clima-Tact and waved it threateningly at Tobias.

"You bastard!" she said to the Dreamer. "Why do you even follow that monster?"

"It's none of your concern…" said the cryptic Tobias.

Nami quickly created a series of atmosphere balls, saying, "Then I'll make you tell us! Cool Ball, Heat Ball!"

A darkened could suddenly appeared over Tobias. He looked at it with his same usual passive glance before it started to rumble. Nami grinned at him and said, "Fall prey to the Thunderbolt Tempo!"

Lightning shot from the sky at incredibly speeds as soon as Nami said that. However, Tobias was even quicker than that, dreaming up a large protruding metal pole from the ground, grabbing the lightning's attention and absorbing all of the damage, leaving Tobias unscathed; he did all of this without moving.

"Anything else?" he asked calmly.

Robin was finally able to use her many arms to free Luffy from his bindings and allowing him to stand up again. All three Straw Hats scowled at the same time as they looked at their enemy simply known as Tobias the Dreamer…

— — —

"What?" cried the incredulous Smoker to Admiral Aokiji. "You mean Victor's devil fruit has the power to destroy the entire world?"

Aokiji looked at Smoker with a sleepy look, simply saying, "You shouldn't overreact to such small things…"

"Small things?" shot back the Rear-Admiral. "You just told me Victor could use his devil fruit to destroy the earth in a single move! I know he has the powers of several powerful devil fruits, but it's impossible for him to destroy all the islands in one attack!"

"Welcome back, Admiral Aokiji," a marine said as the two walked up towards the ship docked at Spectrum Isle. Aokiji nodded and gave him a passive salute as he and Smoker got to the deck.

"Set sail back to the blockade at the Convergence Point immediately," commanded the Admiral.

"Right away, sir!"

As the ship began to move away, Aokiji sat down on a lawn chair, yawned, and put on his sleeping mask, putting his hands behind his head in a lazy motion. After a few seconds passed, Aokiji lifted his sleep-mask to see Smoker still standing there, staring at him intently.

"Oh, it's you…" he said with a yawn. "What do you want again?"

"Stop fucking around!" roared Smoker. "You just told me Victor has the power to destroy everything all at once, then you don't bother explaining how he can do it, and now you're just lazily sending the ship back to the blockade? Why aren't we going to hunt Victor down?"

"I told you," reiterated Aokiji, "Dr. Vegapunk was the one who's figuring all this out, not me, so I don't really know how it's possible. As for why we're going back to the blockade, we're under direct orders to, so we're gonna follow 'em."

Smoker chomped down on his cigar slightly harder when he heard this, and said, "You mean Fleet-Admiral Sengoku knows about this, but still doesn't want us to pursue?"

Aokiji nodded, but then added, "It's not his direct decision. He's under direct orders from the Gorosei and Commander-in-Chief Kong to do so; his hands are tied…"

"Gorosei…" cursed Smoker. "Those old men are only concerned about their own well-being…"

Aokiji put his sleep-mask back on and said, "Probably, but we can't do anything about it…so just sit back and wait for further orders…"

Smoker grimaced at this, then looked back at Spectrum Isle, thinking of Sir Crocodile, and how he just sat there looking at the tree-line that leads into the forest…

— — —

Both Donquixote Doflamingo and Vendrix Confreski sprinted for some time in the forest after deciding to take their battle there. Then, after getting right in the middle of the large amount of trees, they both seemed to stop at the same time and stood a few feet away, facing each other.

Vendrix couldn't help but giggle and said, "Kikiki, I hope you like the scenery, 'cause it's gonna be your fuckin' grave!"

"Fufufu, we'll see about that," contorted Doflamingo, sticking out his tongue in a playful manner. "I'm just hopin' you can entertain me with a fight!"

Then, Vendrix seemed to forget the fact that he was facing Doflamingo as he simply looked down and used both his hands to grip the side of his head, and began to mutter to himself darkly, getting Doflamingo's attention.

"You giving up already?" asked the playful Doflamingo. "And here I thought you had some balls!"

Vendrix still ignored him, and Doflamingo decided to try and listen to what he was saying.

"I think we should string him up in the trees and let all the animals get at him…" he muttered, letting out a little laugh. Then, he seemed to switch and say, "No, no, no…I say we cut open his stomach and then butcher his internal organs in front of him…Perhaps we should decapitate him and then stomp his brains in…Kikiki, there's so many ways to dismantle a human being, it's hard to choose one…"

Doflamingo didn't look too concerned with what he was saying, but he did ready himself to fight. Then, Vendrix seemed to shoot his head up and stare at Doflamingo with widened eyes and a large grin on his face, saliva trailing from the sides of his mouth.

"Yes…I think that should do…" he said to his enemy. "I'll start off by cutting off all your fingers and toes, then I'll move to your hands and feet, and then your arms and legs, and then finally your head!"

"Fufufufu, you can try it," Doflamingo smartly retorted.

* * *

Crazy vs. Crazy!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	115. The Bloodbath Rhapsody

Doflamingo vs. Vendrix! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**115: The Bloodbath Rhapsody**

The large forested area of Spectrum Island was known for its large and varied animals that reside there. Usually, the animals wandered around any part of the forest as they wished with little-to-no repercussions (albeit the large animals killing smaller animals was a fairly normal occurrence).

When Donquixote Doflamingo and Vendrix Confreski made a portion of the forest their territory for fighting, however, all animals within the vicinity quickly left and no animals dared to enter; the reason was simple: none of the animals wanted to get caught in their crossfire and die.

While the animals were fleeing and causing somewhat of a ruckus around the two fighters, Vendrix looked at Doflamingo and let out a snicker. "Kikikiki, 340 million berries is quite a lot for someone, so I'm expectin' nothing but the best from you, Mr. Flamingo!"

Doflamingo cracked his neck and readied his hands, saying, "I'm sure you won't be disappointed, Shaggy-Man! Now make the first move, or I'll do it for ya!"

"As you wish…" muttered Vendrix, reaching one hand into his trench-coat.

Then, quick as lightning, he pulled out a one-handed rifle with a very large barrel. With a large grin on his face, he pulled the trigger, sending a cannonball flying out of it and towards his enemy. Doflamingo acted quickly, moving his fingers in quick successive movements, and before the cannonball could even hit him, it exploded in midair.

Vendrix half-expected this, and taking advantage of the explosion blurring Doflamingo's vision, Vendrix leapt high and appeared over Doflamingo, aiming his weapon straight at the top of his head, pulling the trigger quickly.

Doflamingo looked up and grinned widely, moving his hands in a quick movement and causing the cannonball to explode yet again, the aftershock affecting Vendrix this time. He shielded his eyes and then looked down when the smoke cleared, but saw no one there.

"Fufufu, look up, Shaggy-Man!"

Vendrix followed that order and saw Doflamingo even higher up than he was, laughing and getting ready to attack. Vendrix aimed his gun straight at Doflamingo, but he was too slow this time as the ex-Shichibukai moved his arm in an arcing motion, and just as Vendrix pulled the trigger, the barrel of his gun was cut in half, causing it to explode right into his face and sending him to the ground. He was able to land on his feet, but he let out a grunt of annoyance as Doflamingo also landed unharmed with a smile on his face.

"Fufufu, I hope that's not all, or else I'll be disappointed!"

Vendrix let out a growl as he thought, _"I just need to create an opening so I can touch his head, then I'll use the Mind-Mind powers to get back in control…Then I can have my fun with him!"_

Vendrix let out a large smile as he reached into his trench-coat again and just as quickly threw an object flying towards Doflamingo. He raised an eyebrow and saw that it was a hand-made grenade, but even more surprising was that it flew right past him as if Vendrix missed.

This assumption was thrown out, however, as the grenade detonated not too far behind Doflamingo, destroying one of the trees and sending it falling straight towards Doflamingo. He looked up and quickly leapt out of the way, letting the tree hit the ground harmlessly.

"There!" yelled Vendrix as a small knife flew from his sleeve and into his hand.

With a laugh, he threw the knife straight towards Doflamingo's head, but the ex-Shichibukai was able to move his head to the side, letting the knife cut his cheek and send blood flowing from it.

Vendrix didn't stop there as he rushed towards Doflamingo, pulling out a knife from his trench-coat and rushing towards Doflamingo with it poised to strike. Just before Vendrix could stick the knife into his enemy, Doflamingo rose up his hand and was able to grab the knife straight from him with seemingly the air by moving his arm, sending the knife flying behind Vendrix.

With a growl, Vendrix prepared to slam his palm onto Doflamingo's head, but he was once again too slow as Doflamingo leapt back and moved his arms, cutting up Vendrix's outstretched arm, causing blood to fly from it. With another growl, he pulled his arm back and once again he and Doflamingo were staring each other down, although each had newly-acquired wounds.

Vendrix pointed to the cut on Doflamingo's cheek and said, "Pretty close call, don'tcha think Mr. Flamingo?"

"Fufufu, I could say the same to you, Shaggy-Man," retorted Doflamingo, pointing at Vendrix's newly-cut arm.

"Kikiki, Victor told me all about your techniques," stated the Disillusioned. "You use steel wires that are so thin that they're nearly impossible to see, yet strong enough to sever entire limbs."

Doflamingo raised an eyebrow and asked, "Fufufufufu, is that so? Well you seem to have quite an arsenal hidden under your coat as well, although none of them seem effective!"

This seemed to irk Vendrix, as a sour look appeared on his face, and he said, "Is that so? Well the voices say that you're attacks are only good for cutting, while mine are good for much more!"

"Oh is that so, fufufu," chuckled Doflamingo, feigning that he was hurt in an overly-dramatic motion. "Well your voices certainly do know how to hurt my feelings. Although, I think I can prove them wrong if I wanted!"

Right after that, all of the trees surrounding Vendrix were sliced off at the bottom of their trunks, causing him to look around with wonder. All the trees would have fallen if gravity had their way, yet something seemed to hold them up, and not before long, all the trees were floating in the air above Vendrix.

The Disillusioned looked and saw Doflamingo moving his fingers that seemed to correspond with the trees hovering over Vendrix. With a laugh, Doflamingo threw his arms down and yelled, "How would you like being crushed to death instead of being cut?"

With that, all of the tree trunks began to plummet towards Vendrix, who saw the immediate danger and dove to the ground to avoid one tree smashing him to the ground. He looked up and saw several more trees trying to cut him, and he was hard-pressed to roll around on the floor to avoid the massive trees that would surely cause him certain-death.

Thinking fast, Vendrix reached into his trench-coat again and threw out a small canister straight towards Doflamingo. It exploded instantly, letting out a large burst of light that was so powerful, it even hurt Doflamingo's eyes, which are normally protected by his sunglasses.

All the trees dropped to the ground as Doflamingo's eyes took their time to recover. When they were able to see again, he felt a sharp pain on the back of his right shoulder. He braced himself forward as he looked behind to see that another knife had buried itself in his shoulder, sending blood spraying out. He quickly turned around to see Vendrix sprinting towards him, his bone-bladed knife in his hand, ready to pounce.

Thinking fast, Doflamingo moved his arms and was able to stop Vendrix dead in his tracks. With a grunt, Vendrix looked at his enemy and cursed, "Let me go you mangy motherfucker!"  
"Fufufu, I think not," Doflamingo said. "How's this for only being able to cut?"

By moving his arms up, he was able to lift Vendrix up into the air and over his head, slamming him into the ground behind Doflamingo. Before the Disillusioned could have any time to recover, Doflamingo moved his arms again and was able to slice open his chest, causing him to grip it in pain as blood flew out of his wound.

After a few seconds, Vendrix gripped the sides of his head again and yelled, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT! I'LL SHOW YOU WHY YOU SHOULDN'T FUCK WITH ME!"

He gripped one side of his trench-coat and opened it up, revealing its inside. The contents even surprised Doflamingo, as he saw a wide array of blades peppering the inside of his coat, everything from the smallest pocketknives to the largest cleavers.

Vendrix moved his hand over the weapons with excitement, muttering to himself, "Which one would be the best man for the job? Would it be this one? No, no that wouldn't cause him enough pain…Ah, here we are; this oughta do the trick!"

He pulled out a large cleaver and then closed up his trench-coat again. He looked at himself in the large blades reflection and said dreamingly, "This should be able to crack your bones with one swing, it should…how I'll enjoy hearing that cracking sound!"

With that, Vendrix squatted to the ground and then sprang up into the air, flying over Doflamingo. After reaching into his trench-coat again and throwing two handmade grenades towards Doflamingo, the ex-Shichibukai lazily moved his hands, causing them to explode in midair.

What he wasn't expecting, however, was for Vendrix to burst through the flames spinning several times in the air to gain momentum. He was plummeting towards Doflamingo so fast that the Disillusioned was able to slam the cleaver's large blade straight into Doflamingo's left shoulder, causing him to scream out in pain, yet still allow him to slice Vendrix's own shoulder, causing blood to spray from both of their wounds. Vendrix landed on the ground and quickly launched a powerful kick straight at Doflamingo's chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Doflamingo quickly recovered and was able to pry the cleaver from his shoulder, throwing it straight at the charging Vendrix who raised up his arm in defense, letting the blade bury itself in his forearm as well. The Disillusioned didn't seem to mind, however, as he continued rushing towards Doflamingo with a new bladed weapon in his hand.

Doflamingo quickly severed another tree and used his power over it to launch it straight at Vendrix's unsuspecting side, sending him flying to the floor as the ex-Shichibukai recovered, gripping his shoulder.

"Kikikikiki…" Doflamingo heard from behind the fallen tree trunk. "This sure is a rush…although it hurts pretty badly…Shut the fuck up, this is great fun! Well, maybe we should be more focused on just killing him—No! We should be torturing him inch by bloody inch for what he's done to us!"

Vendrix Confreski the Disillusioned then rose from behind the tree trunk to see Doflamingo again. The cleaver was still embedded in his forearm, but Vendrix used his other hand to grip the blade by the handle and rip it out of his arm with a grunt of pain, throwing it to the ground with disgust.

With a deep breath, Vendrix seemed to regain his composure again and said, "Sorry about that, Mr. Flamingo. What say we start over again. Hi, I'm Vendrix Confreski, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Fuck you," Doflamingo said humorlessly, moving his hands yet again to cut Vendrix's legs.

Vendrix seemed to drop onto his knees in pain, but then very quickly rolled onto the ground, speeding towards Doflamingo. When he was close enough, he leapt back onto his feet with a pistol in his hand, and wasting no time, he fired a shot, hitting Doflamingo in his thigh.

With some pain, Doflamingo moved his arms again, but Vendrix quickly ducked, letting the attack sever the trees behind him. He quickly pulled out his bone-bladed knife and rushed towards Doflamingo, stabbing it straight into his stomach, causing Doflamingo to spit out blood. Not wasting any more time, Vendrix thrust his palm right onto Doflamingo's forehead and sent him crashing into the ground.

Almost immediately, Doflamingo launched both his legs up and booted Vendrix in the chest, sending him flying away from Doflamingo. Just as Vendrix was about to recover, Doflamingo leapt to his feet and went to attack again, this time severing off Vendrix's hand.

Letting out a scream of pain, Vendrix dropped to his knees, gripping his bloodied stump. Then, Doflamingo decided to end it, and quick as lightning was able to sever off Vendrix's head, sending it crashing to the ground with a thud.

Internally, Doflamingo breathed a sigh of relief, as he slowly (and painfully) walked towards Vendrix's corpse, looking down at it, and surprisingly smiled, saying, "And I guess that's that, eh Shaggy-Man?"

Then, to Doflamingo's complete surprise, Vendrix's severed head turned towards Doflamingo and looked up at him, saying, "You're jumping to conclusions too early, I think, ya stupid fuck!"

Doflamingo instinctively took a step back, but then felt a sharp pain raking across his back. He gripped it in pain, as he saw Vendrix's severed head and body shatter, sending shards flying towards him.

The ex-Shichibukai felt that his back had been diagonally slashed, and he turned around to see a laughing Vendrix standing there, his bone-bladed knife in his hand. "Kikikiki, whatcha think of that little mind-fuck, Mr. Flamingo?"

Doflamingo cast a glance back at what he thought was Vendrix's body before saying, "I've seen worse…Looks like you put me under some illusion though, eh?"

"Ding-ding-ding-ding!" shouted the gleeful Vendrix. "You are correct! The very minute I touched your forehead

_(Vendrix thrust his palm right onto Doflamingo's forehead and sent him crashing into the ground)_

I've placed you under control of the Mind-Mind Fruit, and now I can fuck with you any way I see fit!"

Doflamingo snarled a bit at this, but still kept his cool and said, "The Mind-Mind Fruit, eh? Sounds like a real bitch…"

Vendrix seemed to ignore him as he muttered, "Now that we've got him here, I say we kill him as soon as we can…No, no, we need to toy with him a bit, make him suffer like we have…How about if we leave him for the animals to eat? They could use a good meal…kikiki!"

Donquixote Doflamingo simply scowled at this behavior.

* * *

Losing himself in his own mind...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	116. The Disillusioned

The crazy battle continues! Enjoy!

**Sorry this is late. Got caught up during the weekend...**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**116: The Disillusioned**

Doflamingo flicked his finger slightly before making a more exaggerated movement, rushing straight towards Vendrix Confreski, intent on severing his body to pieces while he was still muttering to himself about how he was going to kill his opponent.

"Kikiki, so it's decided then…" he continued to mutter while the ex-Shichibukai made his move. "We'll go forward with the original plan and cut his fingers, then toes, then hands and feet, and then…hmm?"

Vendrix turned his head to see Doflamingo within proximity of him, beginning to move his arms. With a smile, the Disillusioned raised his hands up in a stopping motion chiding, "Nuh-uh…no attacks for you!"

Doflamingo then felt himself stop in his tracks just before he could cut off Vendrix's head. Cursing inwardly, Doflamingo did his best to keep his voice level as he said sarcastically, "Stopping someone dead in their tracks is a pretty cheap move, Shaggy-Man!"

Vendrix snickered as he tapped the side of his head with his index finger, saying, "But I'm not the one stopping you; your mind is—it has power over your entire body, you know—so move yourself, if you're able to! Besides, all's fair in love and war, and I earned the right to control your mind, so why don't you just shut the fuck up and let me enjoy my moment in the sun?"

He pulled out his bone-bladed dagger and began to walk towards Doflamingo, laughing, as the former-Shichibukai did his best to move, although it was to no avail. _"So this is what it's like when I use my powers to stop people dead in their tracks, fufufu…"_ he couldn't help but think as Vendrix drew closer.

"First the fingernails, then the fingers themselves…" Vendrix said dreamily as he twirled his trademark dagger. "Then the toenails, fingers, toes, hands, legs…oh what a delight the animals will have when they're feasting upon your remains!"

Doflamingo found that he was able to spit at Vendrix's combat boots, making him smile a bit, as Vendrix took a step back with mock disgust. Doflamingo kept his unending smile as he said cheerfully, "Are you sure your mind's made up on the subject of killing me? Don't have any last minute meetings you wanna have in there with your other friends?"

"Nope," replied Vendrix bluntly, holding up his knife when he was but an inch away from Doflamingo. "It's all made up in there, bucko; we made a unanimous decision, and for all intents and purposes, we're running late anyways. You hear that? Tick-tock, it's eleven o'clock, and the man on Raftel is about to rock, Mr. Flamingo, kikiki!"

Doflamingo's face looked to be strained as he continued to try and move, but he still kept his smile. "Sounds good, but I'm afraid the only one who's gonna rock is me!"

Then, Vendrix felt Doflamingo move his pinky finger in the slightest, and as soon as that happened, he heard the quick sound of slicing and before he knew it, the overhanging half of his trench-coat was severed, sending half of his weapons hidden in there in the floor, setting off a grenade with the impact, taking both Doflamingo and Vendrix with it.

Vendrix let out a fleeting cough as he escaped the black billowing smoke, desperately looking around for his enemy before finally scurrying up a tree and securing himself against the truck on one of the low-hanging branches. He let out a quick sigh and used his sharp vision to survey his surroundings.

Then, the branch below him buckled, and was quickly severed, sending the Disillusioned free-falling to the floor and landing on it with a thud, causing him to wheeze in pain. Before he could even get up, his left pinky finger was cut off from his hand, causing him to grasp it and let out a high shriek of pain.

"Fufufu, so it looks like when you're distracted or attacked suddenly, your control over my mind is lost," he heard Doflamingo say, dropping from a high tree with a smile on his face. He too was burned, but he didn't show as much pain as Vendrix did.

"You motherfucker!" barked Vendrix, standing up while still gripping his bloodied stump of a pinky finger. "There should have been no way for you to escape my grasp; I had complete control over your mind and muscle functions!"

Doflamingo wagged his finger in a disappointed motion, saying, "While that may be true, I'm afraid one thing did slip by your information, and more importantly your boss…"

"Yeah, I bet…" shot back Vendrix in a sarcastic tone. "Was it that your daddy fucked you when you were a little boy?"

Doflamingo let the taunt pass him as he chuckled, showing all five of his fingers saying, "Nope. While we were fighting against the Admirals at Mariejois, Victor said that my power derives from a puppet-master's strings powerful enough to sever limbs. And while I do indeed use strings, they're the farthest thing from normal wires."

Vendrix flinched slightly, spastically shooting his arm out; Doflamingo didn't pay it any mind.

"Anyways, the most important thing he said was that I don't use a Devil Fruit, but that couldn't be farther from the truth my disillusioned friend."

"What?"

Red strings then materialized from Doflamingo's fingertips, moving around in a showoff motion while Doflamingo kept chuckling. "That's right, I ate the String-String Fruit, and you're one of the few people who's seen what my strings really look like and live. Normally, they're just invisible and I use them to slice people to ribbons."

"That still doesn't explain how the fuck you were able to escape my Mind Lock!" shouted Vendrix, clearly in a fury now.

"Fufufu, you think I'm only limited to having strings on my fingers only?"

Vendrix spat blood on the forest ground, not saying anything, but still scowling.

Doflamingo took his silence as a cue to continue. "Why do ya think I chose a forest to fight in anyways? It's a perfect place to have tripwires set up just in case. What you felt cut off your jacket was one of the many strings I set in place. All I needed to do was to move even the slightest and I could set it off. Spitting on the ground let me know that I could control my muscles if even a _little bit_, and that was all I needed. But shouldn't you know this anyways? I thought if you controlled my mind, you could also read it."

Vendrix only responded by pulling out a pistol and aiming it at Doflamingo, firing a quick shot. The red strings emanating from the ex-Shichibukai's fingers disappeared, turning completely invisible again. With one clean move, he was able to sever the bullet before it hit him, and he moved to cut Vendrix's head off next.

He was successful in this endeavor, and sent his enemy dropping to the ground, his head quickly following. Then, his body seemed to melt away into wax, and Doflamingo looked around and laughed, saying, "Creating illusions of you is pretty clever, the perfect tactic for running away. So I take that answer as you can't read minds then? What a shitty devil fruit ability, fufufu!"

Vendrix had his back to a tree far away from Doflamingo, breathing heavily. His severed pinky wound had stopped bleeding and was reduced to a dull throb, but Vendrix still ground his teeth in disgust.

"The fucker's slowly catching onto our abilities…" he muttered to himself. After a few seconds, he said again, "No, no, there shouldn't be a problem, I can still handle it…Well fuck you if you think my missing pinky begs to differ; I'll show you all! Look, I've never steered you wrong before, so just trust me on this one!"

Vendrix then closed his eyes and sighed, tapping himself into Doflamingo's mind yet again. After a few seconds, he grinned and drew his pistol in one hand, and his dagger in the other. "Let's go it…" he said calmly before moving from his hiding spot.

Doflamingo then felt himself losing his balance, and before he knew it, his vision began to blur considerably, until he didn't have the power to see anything anymore. With a grunt, he turned his head to the left and right instinctively while he stepped forward, bracing himself.

Then, he heard: "Kikikiki, not laughing anymore, are ya Mr. Flamingo? The brain controls your vision as well, and when that's cut off, well then you're pretty helpless, although I don't know how you see with those ridiculous-looking glasses anyways!"

"Says the guy who wears a trench-coat all day…" Doflamingo muttered.

Vendrix Confreski the Disillusioned positioned himself above Donquixote Doflamingo while standing on a tree. He raised up his bone-bladed dagger in a stabbing position before saying proudly, "It's over Mr. Flamingo; it was nice fighting you!"

He then dropped down from the tree, his knife at the ready to place itself right in Doflamingo's back. However, when he was close enough to hear words, he heard Doflamingo say, "You're coming down right behind me."

"What?"

Without any explanation, Doflamingo threw both his arms forward and a sudden amount of force hurled Vendrix forward, sending him flying completely over his target and hitting a tree right in front of him. As soon as Vendrix struck the trunk, his concentration was broken and Doflamingo could see again.

"The fuck!" roared Vendrix on his back, looking up at the sky. He wasn't even paying attention to Doflamingo at that point, simply happy with cursing out loud to vent his frustration. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"

After a few seconds of that, Vendrix slowly rose up and looked at Doflamingo, blood covering his face from his multiple wounds. With a growl, he said, "I know you didn't sense me by hearing. I specifically made sure that when I spoke, your brain interpreted it a sound that was farther away!"

"Fufufu, you'd be right, Shaggy-Man," said Doflamingo, "I didn't use my hearing. Don't you find it strange that I'm able to take control of more than two people at a time, despite having only two hands?"

He raised them up, causing Vendrix to raise his eyebrow.

Doflamingo shook his head and said, "Of course it's strange. With the String-String Fruit, however, it's not so weird. In fact, its greatest power is the fact that when I connect to someone with my strings once

_(Doflamingo moved his arms and was able to stop Vendrix dead in his tracks)_

it always stays connected, even if I'm controlling someone else at the same time. Perhaps a visual demonstration will help you understand."

Red strings once again appeared from Doflamingo's fingertips, and surprisingly, they all connected to Vendrix's body, causing him to look down and curse, "You son of a—"

"So in short, I _felt_ you through how the strings moved," chuckled Doflamingo. "Now that's real power, Shaggy-Man, fufufu!"

_"FUCK IT, JUST KILL HIM NOW!"_ Vendrix seemed to yell, although it had a different tone than before.

Vendrix went to move forward with his dagger firmly planted in his right hand, but Doflamingo didn't even flinch as he simply moved one of his fingers and let out a chuckle. Then, against Vendrix's own will, his own right arm shot downwards, sending his bone-bladed dagger straight into his stomach, stopping him in his tracks and staring down at the wound in disbelief.

"Never mess with a first-rate puppet master," stated Doflamingo with an air of confidence. "You're not worthy of the New Age, so just disappear and never come in my sight again."

"Mbuh…" muttered Vendrix, standing perfectly still and staring at his knife in his stomach. Then, without any warning or explanation, tears welled up into his eyes and he began to cry, letting out massive sobs.

Doflamingo raised an eyebrow at this, slightly amused, yet slightly disgusted at the same time.

_"WAAAAAAAAH! MOMMY, IT HURTS!"_ roared the Disillusioned. _"PLEASE MOMMY, TELL ME WHY IT HURT SO MUCH?"_

He dropped onto his back and began to flail his arms and legs around like a frenzied child, shouting his strange curses while still crying massive tears. All around him, a blood-pool formed.

_"PLEASE MOMMY, ANSWER ME! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE IN THE DARK AGAIN, I PROMISE I'LL BE GOOD! MOMMY, CAN YOU PLEASE KISS THE WOUND AND MAKE THE PAIN GO AWAY?"_

While amidst the ranting and raving, Vendrix Confreski the Disillusioned finally rolled over and saw his pistol not but a few feet away through his bloodshot eyes. "Yes…" he muttered through his choked sobs. "That'll make the pain go away…"

He then began to painfully crawl towards his weapon, making a plan in his head as to what he was gonna do when he finally reached the weapon. After several agonizing seconds of painful crawling (pushing the dagger further into his stomach, no less), he was within reach.

"Help me make the pain go away…" he said as he raised his hand up and was about to bring it down on his pistol.

Then, it suddenly slid across the ground away from Vendrix, going into the forest and disappearing from his sight. The Disillusioned simply looked at this turn of events with disbelief before saying, "It's not fair…NO IT'S NOT FAIR!"

A foot then stomped down next to Vendrix's head. He looked up with his tearstained face to see the snickering face of Donquixote Doflamingo.

"Grow up, ya fuckin' idiot!" he chided. "If you want that pistol, ya gotta work for it…You're beneath killing, even for me. Cya, Shaggy-Man!"

Doflamingo looked forward, raising his arm in a dismissive motion before walking away from Vendrix, who still stared forward into the dark forest with disbelief. Fresh tears sprang into his eyes again, as he let out more massive sobs, yelling, _"THE MEAN MAN JUST KNOCKED AWAY MY MEDICINE, MOMMY! WHAT SHOULD I DO?"_

Doflamingo didn't pay heed to his comments anymore, but looked for a way out of the forest, saying, "Fufufu, you wouldn't last a second in the New Age!"

Donquixote Doflamingo, the former Shichibukai, then left the darkness of the forest, leaving Vendrix the Disillusioned alone under the moonlight, with nothing but his own screams and his own Voices.

* * *

End of the Disillusioned...

**Updating on Thursday.**

**Behind the Character (14): Vendrix Confreski**

Following along the motif of the antagonistic organization set in manga (usually, anyways), there always has to be a loose cannon in the group. Their purpose is simple: to add a wild element and make their actions unpredictable, making the enemies more of a threat and interesting. Vendrix was definitely that wild element thrown into the mix, and following along my own general ideas when creating an evil organization, he was the one with some mental issues, but I'm sure you know that already.

Design-wise, there's no real specific model. He was one of those characters that I created that I like to not explain to well so the readers can make up their own minds about what he looks like. If you really want to know, though, I would have to say he's loosely-based on Vincent Volaju, the antagonist from the _Cowboy Bebop_ movie "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (which is a fantastic film by the way).

Personality-wise, I didn't want to set anything with him in stone, opening him up to be able to do anything and everything, and it wouldn't seem out of place. I have a fascination with schizophrenics and I enjoyed playing around with Vendrix's personality a lot. However, I'm not at all saying that I think mental illness is cool (as I, in fact, loathe people who claim they're "crazy" and not know what it really means), so by the end I tried my best to portray the disintegration of Vendrix's mind and end with him becoming a somewhat sympathetic character, if only because he suffers badly from his disorder.

I created almost all of my Devil Fruit ideas for my characters on my own without really knowing what other people's ideas were. So after creating the Mind-Mind Fruit, I checked on some forums and found that it was a surprisingly popular idea. Fortunately for me, most of the descriptions of it were telekinetic powers, which my fruit was completely void of.

The most obvious basis for it was Sosuke Aizen's zanpakuto Kyoka Suigetsu with the power to control everyone's senses, and is mostly used to cause illusions. Obviously this is quite an overpowered technique, so I created keen weaknesses for this devil fruit (such as having to touch their head first or the inability to read minds) and thought it would work out. I mostly regret not showing more of it throughout the story, but limited character times for all the Corps of Kings got in the way, and I wanted to showcase Vendrix's personality more than his devil fruit since I don't like having my characters be defined by their powers only…

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	117. Storm Warning 2: Luffy vs Tobias

Meanwhile, with the Straw Hats... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**117: Storm Warning 2- Luffy vs. Tobias**

"Waaahhhh, look out guys! It's Hawkeye Mihawk, the guy who beat Zoro!"

Usopp cowered behind the annoyed Sanji as he pointed to the World's Greatest Swordsman, who simply let out a grunt of annoyance, closed his eyes, and looked down.

"Relax, relax," said Marco, putting his hands up in a non-threatening way. "He's with me; he won't cause you any harm."

Mihawk looked at the Whitebeard Captain and said, "Looks like you got your part of the job done then too, eh, Phoenix?"

Marco nodded with a grin, saying, "It was pretty easy. How 'bout on your end?"

"Simple…" replied the ex-Shichibukai. He motioned behind himself and added, "They did most of the work, really…"

"I told you to wait up!" the group heard someone shout behind Mihawk. "You're going too fast and I have too many injuries to keep up, you bastard!"

"Eh?" asked Sanji with a sigh, putting a hand to his head. "Don't tell me that's…"

Splint took a drag on his cigarette, saying to the Straw Hat Chef, "It looks like your swordsman friend is coming with that…oh man, it's that fuckin' skeleton again…"

"Yohohoho, look Zoro!" Brook shouted to his companion. He was supporting Zoro by putting his arm around his neck and going at a steady pace, but he soon dropped his pace and started running towards his friends. "Everyone seems to be here!"

"Ow, ow, ow, watch it!" complained Zoro, trying to keep up with his egregious wounds. After a few seconds, he lost his grip on Brook and dropped to the floor with a grunt.

"Zoro, are you okay?" shouted Chopper, sprinting over towards the swordsman, ready to bind his wounds together.

Boa Hancock shook her head at all of this and muttered, "That swordsman really is an idiot…"

Usopp quickly ran to Chopper's side, Franky following, as the cyborg asked, "Do you think he'll be okay, Chopper?"

The Straw Hat Doctor inspected Zoro's wounds and it took several seconds for him to say, "I'll do all I can, and hopefully he'll be well enough to travel again…"

"Ah, can't be helped then," said Splint, plopping to the floor with a sigh. "We'll just have to wait for a while, then…"

Splint was leading Sanji and Hancock through the terrain of Spectrum Island, intent on getting them to his ship so they could get moving, but he certainly didn't expect to run into the group of Marco, Franky, Usopp, and Chopper while on their travels.

_"You're…Marco the Phoenix, right?"_ _Splint couldn't help but ask._

The Phoenix nodded and they quickly joined together after seeing he was traveling with three more Straw Hats. They all started moving again, until not too much later, they had run into Hawkeye Mihawk, and sent them into the situation they were in now.

While Chopper was hard at work patching Zoro up with his med-kit he always had on hand, Mihawk, Marco, Splint, Sanji, Hancock, Brook, Usopp, and Franky all gave him some space so they could go and talk about what to do next.

"Well it should be obvious," stated Sanji, lighting a cigarette. "We need to get to Raftel as soon as possible to help Luffy out."

Chopper looked up and asked Marco and Mihawk, "Are you sure you saw him take the _Thousand Sunny_ and go ahead without us?"

Both men nodded as Marco answered, "We saw his ship in hot pursuit of Victor's, and it was obvious he was going to Raftel. I'm sure you know Luffy better than I do, but I'd imagine it was very important if he left you all behind here."

Franky nodded, saying, "Alright then, what are we waiting for? Let's go get a ship and help Luffy out!"

"Relax…" warned Splint calmly. "We need to think carefully about how we're gonna get to Raftel. I was originally planning on taking Sanji and Hancock with me, but a few problems arose from that…"

"Like what?" questioned Brook.

"There's a large field of massive maelstroms guarding the sea between Spectrum Island and Raftel, I'm afraid," Mihawk stated, not opening his eyes. "Only someone who's been through it before or is an expert navigator is able to get through it safely."

Hancock turned to Splint suspiciously and questioned, "How exactly did you plan on getting us through there in the first place?"

The revolutionary remained silent and went on smoking his cigarette.

"Great…" said a pessimistic Usopp. "So we're basically stuck on this island until Luffy gets back, and we're not even able to help him?"

"Well, Nami and Robin should be with him," Sanji added. "That lucky son of a…"

Marco smiled and said to everyone, "Thankfully, we have someone who knows the path, and has a strong enough ship to support all of us on our travels."

"Who?" asked Franky.

"Red-Haired Shanks," was Marco's reply.

Splint's mouth opened so wide his cigarette fell right out of it. "You came here with a Yonko?"

Both Marco and Mihawk nodded, though only the Phoenix said, "He was a part of Gold Roger's crew, and should know the path through the maelstroms pretty well."

"Well that settles it, then," said Usopp with happiness in his voice. "Let's get going!"

"Yes, I want to see Luffy as soon as possible!" Hancock nearly shouted. Then she added under her breath, "I can't stand to be by these types of men much longer anyways…"

Behind them, the entire group heard Chopper yell: "Guys, I'm finished with Zoro. He should be good to walk for a while, though he'll need more treatment as soon as possible!"

Splint grinned and stood up, saying to Mihawk and Marco, "Well, lead the way then, gentlemen."

They obliged, as they walked towards Zoro, where Franky and Sanji helped support Zoro between them, and the group went on their way. Zoro looked up and muttered, "We're on our way, Luffy…"

— — —

Luffy let out a large roar as he cocked his fist back, rushing in at Tobias's side. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

"Dream Vacuum," stated the calm Tobias with his eyes closed, not even moving from his spot.

Luffy's fist was diverted to the side as a small tornado of swirling air formed behind Tobias, its sucking force pulling Luffy's fist in. His fist was quickly sucked in, and Luffy gripped his stretched arm with his other hand and was able to yank it out, the impact throwing Luffy backwards towards the ground.

Robin reacted quickly, saying, "Spider Net!"

100 arms appeared in the form of a spider's net behind Luffy and was able to catch him safely. He landed safely in her clutches as he looked at his crewmate with a smile, saying, "Thanks Robin!"

Nami quickly moved towards Tobias, putting two parts of her Perfect Clima-Tact together in an X-shape and saying, "Nobody does that to my Captain! Cyclone Tempo!"

The two parts of her weapon flew towards Tobias, who simply said, "Dream Shield…"

A yellow transparent shield appeared in front of Tobias, and Nami's attack seemed to hit it harmlessly. Surprise appeared on his face, however, when a powerful burst of wind flew from the two parts of the baton and sending Tobias flying backwards.

Nami cheered, saying, "Yes! Finally got you!"

Her cheering was cut short, however, when Tobias was able to put both his hands on the ground and do a perfect back-flip to land on his feet unharmed. He calmly brushed dirt off of his shoulder, asking, "Is that all?"

Nami seemed offended by this as she said, "Is that all? I'll show you all I can do! Mirage Tempo: Fata Morgana!"

Five Nami's suddenly appeared around a hazy mist, causing Tobias to raise his eyebrow up in surprise. "Interesting…" he commented.

"Try and guess which one is me!" all five Nami's seemed to say. "Bet you can't, can you? Well too bad for you, I'm not waiting! Get ready, Thunderbolt Tem—eh?"

"Dream Cannons…"

A row of ten large cannons appeared right in front of Tobias, more than enough to cover all the Nami's that were in front of him. "No need to guess for something like this," was all he said.

"W-Wait…" started all five Nami's.

Tobias didn't wait as all at once, all ten cannons fired towards her. She didn't look like she was able to dodge in time as the cannonballs all struck at once, causing a large explosion.

"Next…" replied the stoic Tobias.

Surprise appeared on his face again, however, as Monkey D. Luffy sprinted out of the smoke—surprisingly with ten arms on each arm creating what looked to be a round shield—and with a smile, he cocked both his fists back and yelled, "Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

There was no time for Tobias to react, as he was struck hard in his chest by both of Luffy's fists, sending him flying backwards and landing on the floor with a thud. Nami looked from her spot on the ground where she was almost hit. Luckily, Luffy was able to get in front of her with some of Robin's arms around him as a shield and take the entire blow.

As the twenty arms disappeared, Luffy looked back at Robin and nodded, saying, "Thanks for the help."

Nico Robin seemed to wince in pain as her arms were hit, but managed a smile and said, "No problem, Captain."

Luffy turned back to Nami and asked with a grin, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Nami, standing up and dusting herself off. "Thanks for your help."

Luffy nodded and said with a laugh, "Shishishi, that's what friends are fo—"

A giant black sledge flew and hit Luffy at his side and sent him flying through the ruins with a crash, knocking an ancient wall down with him. Nami and Robin immediately turned to see Tobias standing there, a bit of blood flowing from his mouth, but with the same stoic look as before.

The giant sledge disappeared as he said to the two, "Nice teamwork you had there…I'm surprised you got a hit on me."

"You son of a…" started an angered Nami, gripping her Clima-Tact. She turned towards Robin and said, "Come on!"

Robin nodded as she created eight arms that gripped Tobias and she yelled, "Clutch!"

She bent Tobias's back backwards as he let out a small grunt of pain before finally snapping in half, the top half of his body hitting the ground and shattering into several white pieces. Nami looked at them and said, "Clay? But where could he be?"

"Dream Sculpture," she heard Tobias say behind her. "It's quite efficient when you need to switch places with something."

Nami moved quickly, grabbing her Clima-Tact and swinging it towards Tobias, yelling, "Thunder Charge: Swing Arm!"

Her attack didn't connect, however, as Tobias was able to quickly grab it before it struck him. Before Nami could react, Tobias dreamed up a pair of brass knuckles on his free fist and he quickly struck, punching Nami straight in her stomach, causing her to reel back while gripping her stomach in pain.

Robin was about to move when Luffy suddenly burst out of the rubble and was coming straight towards Tobias. He looked at him with a slightly-amused grin and created two massive sledges on both sides of Luffy. He clapped his hands together and the two immediately moved in to crush Luffy between them.

The Straw Hat Captain thought fast as he shot both his arms into the ground, propelling him up as he yelled, "Gum-Gum Rocket!"

He was able to avoid both attacks and flew towards Tobias in the air, letting out a large scream. Tobias moved his hand in front of him in one large arc, creating a large amount of floating knives, all pointed towards Luffy. By throwing his arms forward, all of the knives flew towards him, intent on skewering him.

Luffy was able to grip a tree nearby by stretching his arm and sending him out of their direction. With a quick swing around it, he gained momentum and flew towards Tobias with his fist cocked back.

Tobias was about to move his hands again to dream something up, but Robin was faster than him, yelling, "Cuatro Manos: Hold!"

She sprouted forty arms and created four large hands by combining them. She quickly went to work and grabbed Tobias, being able to pin him down and stopping his attack. He quickly glanced at Robin and muttered, "You…"

"Gum-Gum Pistol!"

Tobias was too distracted by Robin to defend himself against Luffy's punch to the side of his face, sending blood flying from his mouth and him sprawling to the floor. Unfortunately for him, he was still pinned down when he hit the floor, and Luffy was going in for another attack.

Thinking fast, Tobias moved his fingers and pointed them towards himself. Behind Robin, a javelin formed and quickly shot itself towards her, cutting open her arm and causing her to flinch in pain. That was all Tobias needed as he was able to break her grip on him and dream up an ornately-decorated spear, thrusting it towards Luffy.

The captain was able to turn his body to the side, yet still get a slight cut on his stomach. Moving quickly, Tobias dreamed up another sledge and struck Luffy dead in his chest, sending him to the floor. Leaping towards him, Tobias aimed his spear right at Luffy's neck, saying, "The game's over now, Straw Hat!"

He was just about to thrust his spear into Luffy's throat, when a sudden burst of wind sent Tobias flying to the side with a grunt, rolling several times on the ground before stopping. Luffy wasn't able to see who it was, but simply said, "Nami…?"

Tobias quickly recovered and looked up with a slight look of anger on his face. "Who?"

"Geez, you always were a troublesome kid…"

"It's…" Robin stated with her mouth open.

Nami looked and gripper her Clima-Tact a bit tighter after seeing who it was.

"You're…" started the equally surprised Tobias, but found he couldn't find the words to speak.

"Dad?" shouted Luffy.

There, the grinning cloaked figure of Monkey D. Dragon stood over Tobias, looking down at him with his usual intimidating form. He shook his head in disappointment saying, "You should know better than to attack my son…"

Luffy was able to move to a sitting position almost immediately and asked, "What are you doing he—"

Dragon threw his arm wide across from him in order to silence him. He looked back at his son and said, "Go look for Victor…I'll take care of this guy!"

* * *

The Revolutionary leader finally makes his move!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	118. Reap the Whirlwind

Luffy's father to the rescue! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

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**118: Reap the Whirlwind**

Immediately after declaring his bold statement, Monkey D. Dragon was able to get behind Luffy in one quick fluid movement. Not wasting any time, he grabbed Luffy roughly by his shoulders and lifted him back to his feet with a small grunt.

"Hey, wait—" started Luffy as his father successfully got him back on his own two legs. "I asked you, what are you doing here?"

Dragon looked at Luffy head-on and grinned as he usually did, saying, "I'm just here lookin' out for your best interests. And seeing as how I just saved you and am giving you a chance to go after Victor without distraction, I should think thanks are in order."

Luffy blinked, trying to think of something to say, but knowing his logic was sound. After a few seconds of looking at each other in the eyes, both Luffy and Dragon started to laugh at the same time, its power gradually growing in strength.

"Hehehehehe…heh heh heh heh…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

A confused Nami looked up at Robin and asked with a sigh, "What's with those two?"

Robin only offered the smallest of smirks, shrugging her shoulders and saying, "Like father, like son, I suppose…"

After the father and son's laughter died down, Dragon narrowed his eyes and said to Luffy, "Now go and beat Victor up for me!"

Luffy nodded and said, "Right!"

He was just about to leave when Tobias started sprinting towards Luffy with his spear at the ready, saying, "I can't let you interfere with our plans anymore!"

Dragon didn't move as he simply moved his hand in a sweeping arc in front of him, and a large burst of wind struck Tobias, sending him skidding backwards on his feet while letting out a grunt of rage.

Nami looked at Robin skeptically, asking, "Should we go?"

Robin shook her head, saying, "No, we're needed more here, and we'd probably just get in the way anyways. Besides…" She glanced at Dragon with her same smirk. "There's much more to gain by staying here…"

Tobias regained his footing and glared at Dragon, saying, "Who would have thought Monkey D. Dragon would show up here? What horrible timing!"

"Don't say that," said Dragon. "You had no reason to be meddling with that man's destiny to begin with!"

Tobias dreamed up a large-barreled weapon that he firmly planted on his shoulder and fired quickly, a cannonball flying out of it, headed straight for Dragon. The man in the green cloak didn't move yet again as he simply moved his hand up, sending a stream of wind towards the cannonball, changing its path so that it flies upwards and land behind him and explode, leaving the revolutionary completely unharmed.

"The power to control winds, eh?" questioned Tobias, dematerializing his cannon-launcher. "Quite a troublesome ability, there…"

Dragon smirked at his question and simply replied, "I thought you guys had information on everybody in the world, and you're saying you don't know my ability?"

"Oh we tried to get information on you," explained Tobias, "but we never could. You were too secretive. Too…willing to stay in the shadows while others carried out your orders."

"Well lucky me…"

Nami pointed her Perfect Clima-Tact right at the revolutionary and said boldly, "Dragon, we didn't see you through the field of maelstroms, so how exactly did you get here?"

"Does it really matter right now?" asked Dragon with a confused look on his face. "Maybe I'll explain to you later. For now though, there's more important things to be taken care of…"

"But…" started Nami.

Robin looked at her companion and said calmly, "Let it go for now…You won't get any answers out of that man anyways. For now, why don't we just focus on removing this obstacle?"

Robin pointed both her arms at Tobias, and Nami grinned wolfishly, gripping her Clima-Tact with resolve. "Sounds good to me!"

Eight arms suddenly appeared on Tobias and were about to grasp him, as Robin said, "Ocho Fleurs: Clutch!"

Tobias thought fast, dreaming up a see-through glowing yellow bubble that seemed to come from his skin, being able to engulf him. Before Robin's arms could attack, they were caught up on the outside of the bubble, only able to grip air. Within a second, the light surrounding the bubble intensified, creating a blinding flash of light, causing everyone looking to glance away in pain.

"Dream Flash!" shouted Tobias.

While everyone was looking away, he dreamed up his ornately-decorated spear again and rushed towards Robin, ready to attack. Unfortunately for him, Nami ran between the two, a Thunder Charge at the edge of her Clima-Tact. With a grunt, she swung her weapon straight towards him, the electricity on the end crackling.

"Swing Arm!"

Tobias reacted calmly, dreaming up a large square of rubber-material between the two, letting Nami hit that instead and absorbing all of its electric shock. Nami looked shocked at Tobias, who simply smirked and brought his spear up, ready to impale Nami.

Before he could attack, however, Dragon moved in towards Tobias's side and swung his arm up in an arc, sending a powerful burst of wind flying towards him. Tobias stretched his free arm out and summoned a yellow transparent shield at his side, letting that take all of the wind and leaving him unaffected. Before Dragon could make another move, Tobias brought his spear down towards Nami.

"Dos Fleur: Smash!"

Two arms appeared on Tobias's chest and clasped themselves together to make one large fist. Before Tobias's attack connected, the two arms brought themselves smashing into Tobias's stomach, winding him and causing him to grip his stomach in pain and take a few steps away.

Nami grinned at Robin and summoned another Thunder Charge at the end of her staff, rushing in towards the winded Tobias and saying, "Let's try this again. Swing Arm!"

Tobias brought his spear up in a pitiful defense and struck with Nami's Clima-Tact. Unfortunately for the Dreamer, the lightning charge carried through and shocked Tobias as soon as it hit. He let out a small scream of pain before dropping to his knees with smoke rising from him.

Dragon looked at the two Straw Hats and said, "Good job picking up on his weaknesses. If you continue to catch him off-guard, he shouldn't be able to dream something up to defend himself!"

Unfortunately for the three, Tobias recovered much quicker than expected and thrust his spear straight at Nami, slicing her shoulder open and causing her to step back in pain.  
"Nami!" roared Robin, getting ready to attack again. "Ocho Fleur: Clu—"

She quickly looked up and saw a large black sledge falling towards her. Robin was forced to abandon her attack and leap out of the way so as to avoid getting crushed under Tobias's terrible dream. Dragon saw that they needed help and began to rush towards Tobias, but he quickly set his sights on the revolutionary and aimed his arm at him.

Immediately on the receiving end of his arm, a large floating circular buzz-saw appeared and began to fly towards Dragon. Realizing the danger, Dragon was forced to duck and let the buzz-saw fly past him into the trees behind him, but at that point Tobias was ready, immediately on Dragon with his spear raised up high over his head.

As soon as he brought it down, Dragon rolled out of the way, but he was able to catch the edge of his green cloak and rip a good piece off. At this point, Nami was recovered and began rushing at Tobias again, another Thunder Charge at the edge of her Clima-Tact.

"Dream Stop…" said Tobias, not even bothering to look at her.

Black ooze formed around Nami's feet, quickly engulfing them and stopping her in her tracks. "Hey, what the—" she said while trying to yank her feet out of the sludge.

Tobias quickly moved towards Nami and knocked the Clima-Tact right out of her hands, it landing far out of her reach. "Just give up," said Tobias before slowly walking away towards the still-struggling Nami.

"Don't walk away! Give me back my weapon and I'll finish you off right here!"

Tobias then summoned a javelin floating right behind him and without a word, threw it at the struggling Nami. The Straw Hat navigator saw the danger, but being unable to move, she could only watch as it went to pierce her chest.

Before it pierced her, however, an arm was able to grow out of Nami's chest and catch it, stopping it right before the point impaled her. Nami breathed a sigh of relief as she turned around to see Robin standing there, also breathing a sigh of relief.

"Hold on, I'll get ya out," Robin said to the navigator.

Then, four arms were able to pop out of the sludge Nami was stuck in and pulled her out, allowing Nami to hop safely away from the ooze Tobias had summoned. The navigator quickly jogged over to grab her Clima-Tact, turning around to thank Robin again for her help.

She decided not to, however, when she saw Robin was too busy watching the battle between Tobias and Dragon, those two not seeming to care for them, as they only focused on destroying the enemy in front of them.

Dragon moved both his hands in front of him in a precise way, yelling, "Slicing Gale!"

Tobias could tell Dragon just sent invisible blades of wind flying towards him, and quickly dropped to his knees and touched his hand on the ground, surrounding himself with a yellow cube. The invisible blades struck the shield, and due to their sheer power, the walls of the shield cracked, but stayed together and left Tobias unharmed.

As soon as the attack stopped, the shield disappeared and Tobias leapt into the air, aiming his spear right at Dragon. Right before he threw it, however, Dragon threw his arm upward, sending an updraft of wind hitting Tobias, who was sent flipping through the air until he landed on his feet and immediately rushed towards Dragon, who was surprised to see him recover so quickly.

He thrust his spear right at Dragon's head, but the revolutionary was able to drop his head to the side and only suffer a cut to his cheek, sending fresh blood trailing down. Grinning, Dragon moved his arm to the side and was able to slice open Tobias's arm with his wind blades, also sending blood flowing out.

Tobias quickly dropped his spear and dreamt up an Impact Dial that was fully charged. Dragon looked at Tobias skeptically, but the Dreamer didn't waste any time and yelled, "Impact!"

The shock was sent through Dragon's body and sent him flying backwards. Surprisingly, with Tobias's Impact Dial, there was no recoil, and his arm didn't look hurt at all, although he did seem out of breath after using it. Dragon landed on his back with a thud, not moving at the wind moved between them, picking up in speed.

Nami seemed to notice something and looked up in the sky. She then turned to Robin and asked, "Are you noticing this?"

Robin turned to her with an eyebrow raised. "Noticing what?"

Nami pointed towards the sky, and Robin looked, seeing blackened clouds forming above them, blotting out the pale white full moon. "The clouds have been slowly gathering for a while now," Nami explained. "And as soon as we landed on Raftel, there wasn't a cloud in the night sky…"

"Strange indeed…" said Robin with a small chuckle.

Nami looked at the archaeologist skeptically…

"Come on, I know that wasn't enough to stop you, Monkey D. Dragon!" said Tobias, gripping his sliced arm. "Stand up and let's finish this as quickly as possible; no need to drag it out!"

The winds picked up on the battlefield, and Tobias himself even began to notice the changes. He looked up and saw the darkened clouds in the sky, slowly forming together to cover the entire area they were fighting in.

As if knowing what was happening, he turned to Dragon and said harshly, "You!"

"Heh heh heh heh…" laughed the revolutionary while on his back, looking up at the night sky. "So you just noticed it, eh?"

Dragon quickly leapt to his feet. Tobias inspected him and saw that he wasn't as injured as he thought—blood flowing from his mouth was the only noticeable harm—despite being hit with a fully-charged Impact Dial. This surprised Tobias, especially after all the trial-and-error he went through designing the Dial based solely on Victor's information alone before finally perfecting it.

The wind blew harshly again as Dragon said to the Dreamer, "The clouds have been gathering ever since I've gotten here. It's always such a pain to set everything up, but once it gets set in motion, it goes downhill quickly!"

"You…brought them here?" questioned Tobias, not fully understanding the weight of his words.

Dragon grinned one of his famous grins and nodded. "You would expect anything less from the eater of the Storm-Storm Fruit?"

"Storm-Storm Fruit?" Nami almost shouted in complete shock.

"The power to create and control storms…" growled Tobias. "I heard Victor talk about it once, saying it's one of the most powerful fruits out there…"

"Create and control storms, eh?" said the rather amused Robin. "That would explain quite a lot…"

After a few seconds, Nami muttered to Robin, "So that's how he was able to bypass the field of maelstroms…"

The wind blew ever harsher than before as the two fighters stared each other down, Dragon putting on his green hood with the grin still on his face. Tobias finally understood, yet showed only his usual stoic gaze.

The sound of thunder appeared in the clouds above them as Dragon threw both his arms wide open and said, "Now it's time for the real show, Tobias! Let's see you dream yourself outta this one!"

* * *

His secret power revealed!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	119. Storm of the Century

Tobias vs. Dragon! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**119: Storm of the Century**

_One particular night ten years ago while they were sailing peacefully through the Grand Line, Tobias walked into Victor's personal room. The latter was surprised to see him enter and looked away from his desk, saying, "Ah, Tobias. Come on in…"_

_The Dreamer complied and walked over to Victor's desk. "I just came in to give you an update on our course. We should be landing on Mononakre Island in about three hours."_

_"Good, good," said Victor quietly, looking past Tobias. He seemed to be focused on something else._

_Tobias looked on Victor's desk and saw that there was a picture of a Devil Fruit on it. The particular fruit was a dark scarlet red in color and shaped in the form of a star-fruit with swirled edges surrounding it._

_"What fruit is that?" inquired the curious Dreamer._

_Victor glanced at the picture again and said, "That, my dear Tobias, is known as the Storm-Storm Fruit, the Devil Fruit that has eluded me for years."_

_Tobias raised an eyebrow. "Years, and yet you still haven't found it? That's quite unlike you."_

_Victor nodded in agreement, saying, "There's almost no information on this particular fruit save for this picture and a few scattering details. I've searched the seas high and low for a good ten years, yet keep coming up with nothing. I don't even know if someone's eaten it or not…"_

_"It's that powerful, eh?"_

_Victor looked up and Tobias again and grinned wolfishly. "It's one of the most powerful Devil Fruits out there, and once I get my hands on it, I'll be invincible…"_

— — —

Tobias the Dreamer felt the wind pick up even harsher than before as the sound of thunder grew even more immanent. "So the Storm-Storm Fruit's been in your possession all this time, eh? I'm sure Victor will be pleased to know that once I capture you and take you to him."

"Keep dreaming, Tobias," replied the grinning Monkey D. Dragon. "You don't have a chance in hell of beating me now."

"Such an air of confidence…" Tobias muttered.

Dragon threw his arm to the side, causing the wind to flow in that direction towards the overgrown trees on that side. The wind was so powerful that the trees began to splinter and creak, shifting to one side as several branches flew off and were carried away.

Tobias dropped down quickly and smashed his hand into the ground, heaving himself up and dreaming up a large rectangular hunk of earth while doing it. Without wasting a second, he slammed both his fists together and the hunk of earth started skidding towards Dragon at breakneck speeds.

The revolutionary didn't move as he simply moved his arms yet again, sending another harsh breeze flying across the side of the hunk of earth. It was so powerful that they were able to slice the earth in half and send it falling to the ground harmlessly.

Tobias spat on the ground angrily as he rushed straight towards his enemy, leaping high into the air. When he was right over Dragon, he dreamed up a large iron black ball connected to a chain he was holding. With a grunt, he threw the chain downwards, sending the large iron ball flying towards Dragon.

Dragon saw the danger and leapt to the side, letting the dreamed-up item smash into the ground harmlessly. Tobias landed and swung the item again, but Dragon ducked and avoided it, running up towards Tobias and punching him straight in the chest, aided by the wind, as Tobias was sent sprawling back before finally landing on the ground painfully.

The Dreamer lied on his back for a while, thinking, _"He was able to use the wind to destroy my first attack, but had to dodge my second. It must be because he's not able to summon enough power to destroy something that substantial. Yet despite his power, he's still only using wind against me…Is he still trying to prepare?"_

After a few more seconds, Tobias leapt up and quickly dreamed up three boulders right in front of him. Dragon looked at him surprised as Tobias said, "Let's see you get outta this one, Dragon!"

He threw one boulder straight at Dragon, who didn't even attempt to attack, but simply leapt out of the way, causing the boulder to strike an ancient structure and causing it to crumble. Tobias had the two remaining boulders swirling around him as he leapt into the air and threw one straight down at Dragon, who quickly leapt out of the way again.

"You're too slow…"

As soon as Dragon recovered, he heard this and before he could react, he was smashed in his side by the last remaining boulder, sending him flying to the earth with a thud. Nami looked at Robin with a concerned face, gripping her Clima-Tact and saying, "Come on, we gotta help him out!"

Nami was surprised when she looked at her companion and saw that she wasn't moving, and, in fact, was shaking her head. "No, watching is much more beneficial to us and to him right now. After all, it is the best way to learn more about that man's powers."

"But—"

"If things get too bad, we'll help out," cut off Robin. "We need him later, anyways…"

Tobias stood over Dragon and dreamed up his ornately-decorated spear again, aiming it straight towards the revolutionary's chest. "I can't kill you, but I can mortally wound you to make sure you can't resist…"

Before Tobias struck, he felt a raindrop fall on his head. He looked up quizzically and saw that more and more drops of rain were falling from the darkened sky. Within a matter of seconds, rain was pouring down and completely soaking everyone underneath its tapestry of clouds.

Dragon took this opportunity and grabbed the spear from the distracted Tobias, who, as soon as it was wrenched out of his grasp, dematerialized it. Dragon leapt up and threw a powerful kick to Tobias's chest and sent him flying backwards while the rain continued to splatter on his face.

The Dreamer quickly leapt up as a powerful thunderclap ripped across the sky. Dragon tilted his head upwards and said to his enemy, "You hear that? Sounds like stage two of the preparations are complete…"

"Stage two?" questioned Tobias.

His question was answered in the form of a lightning bolt, which flew down right next to him in a mere instant, causing Tobias to leap away in surprise. He looked towards Dragon and saw that he had one of his hands raised to the sky. Within another instant, he threw his hand downward, sending another powerful bolt of lightning flying down, this time behind Tobias, who leapt forward.

"Amazing…" Nami said. "It's like my Clima-Tact, except much more potent…"

Rain pelted both fighters' faces as Dragon raised his hand into the air yet again, the sound of thunder still quite prevalent in the sky. "Hey, Dragon!" shouted Robin across the harsh wind. "Don't do anything that'll destroy all these priceless ruins!"

"Can't promise that now, can I?" replied the still-grinning Dragon. "Now be quiet and let me finish this fight once and for all."

He threw his hand down yet again, but as soon as that happened, Tobias was ready, dreaming up a large metal pole right next to him, redirecting the lightning. As soon as it struck the pole, Tobias moved his hands to bring the pole upwards, and within an instant, sent it flying straight towards the surprised Dragon.

He barely had time to move his hands, sending a burst of wind to redirect the pole, but it wasn't enough as it scathed his shoulder, sending a powerful bolt of electricity running through his body. With a scream of pain, Dragon dropped to his knees as Tobias sprinted straight towards him to finish him off.

He summoned a large black sledge and sent it slamming into Dragon's side, dropping him to the earth. Tobias didn't stop there as he dropped to the ground and sent a large rectangular hunk of earth flying up, lifting Dragon straight into the air. There, Tobias leapt up and summoned his trademark spear, getting ready to throw it straight at Dragon.

"Cyclone Tempo!"

Tobias looked as he saw a piece of Nami's Perfect Clima-Tact strike his side, sending a powerful burst of wind and knocking him off of Dragon's course. The two pieces flew back towards Nami as Robin moved her arms, saying, "Cien Fleur: Spider Net!"

100 arms formed a spider net right under Monkey D. Dragon, having him land on it and absorbing all the impact as opposed to him hitting the floor. Robin quickly rushed over to help Dragon as Nami watched Tobias land on the ground perfectly, still clutching his spear.

Dragon started to stir and let out a painful groan as Robin sighed, summoning an arm on Dragon's shoulder that slapped his face, snapping him back into reality. He was immediately up them, gripping his face with one hand while shooting the other into the air, looking at Nico Robin.

"Oh, it's you…" he said, putting his hand back down. "I almost killed you."

Robin smirked and said, "I'll take that as a 'Thank you for saving me' then…"

Nami summoned up a Thunder Charge on her Clima-Tact and rushed between Dragon and Robin and Tobias, who was charging in with his spear. When close enough, Nami detached the piece of her Clima-Tact and threw it straight at Tobias, saying, "Airborne Swing Arm!"

Tobias had more than enough time to summon up a yellow shield, the attack simply striking that and leaving the Dreamer unharmed. He paid Nami no mind as he sprinted straight past her and towards Dragon. He heard another thunderclap, however, and immediately stopped, leaping backwards just as a lightning bolt struck where he was previously standing.

Dragon stood there, bloodied and slightly-charred, but surprisingly grinning. "That was pretty clever of you, Tobias. I didn't quite expect that from you; color me impressed."

Tobias didn't share Dragon's enthusiasm as he brandished his spear dangerously, saying, "Spare me your words, for they bore me. I understand your attacks now, and it's only a matter of time before I put you down for good!"

Dragon looked at Robin and Nami, saying, "If you wanna stay alive, step back…"

They both nodded, complying without questions, knowing Dragon spoke the truth. The revolutionary stared at the Dreamer and raised both his hands up this time. Tobias scoffed at Dragon and said, "Think you can trick me by attacking at the same time? How foolish…"

Dragon asked, "If you think it's so foolish, why don't you just dream up a storm of your own and do it better than me?"

"My Dream-Dream Fruit only allows me to dream up items with substance," explained Tobias, knowing there was no point in hiding the truth. "Ethereal things like clouds or lightning, and even living things like animals are items I cannot dream up…"

Dragon nodded, saying, "What a shame…"

Tobias rushed straight towards Dragon, dreaming up another large sledge and raising it high over his head. Dragon's eyes widened as he threw one of his arms down, sending a lightning bolt flying towards Tobias. The Dreamer threw his spear up into the air, letting the lightning bolt strike it instead, as he continued with his sledge floating above him, ready to crush Dragon.

Dragon threw his other arm down, sending another bolt of lightning fleeing to the earth. Tobias quickly moved his sledge right over him, taking the attack for him while electrically-charging it. "It's over!" declared Tobias as he threw his arms down, sending the sledge descending on Dragon.

Dragon threw both of his arms up in an arcing motion, sending a powerful burst of wind flying and moving the sledge. It carried enough power to send the sledge flying back towards Tobias, who looked on with surprise.

_"Guess the winds got enough power back,"_ was all he thought as he quickly dematerialized the sledge, removing him from danger.

He barely had time to think, however, as Dragon threw up both his arms again and almost immediately sent both flying down at once, sending two lightning bolts flying down. Tobias quickly leapt forward, barely avoiding both attacks, but the power emanating from it sent him flying forwards onto the ground.

Dragon threw one arm up again and sent one down, keeping Tobias on his toes. He quickly leapt up to avoid it, but Dragon used his free arm to sent a powerful burst of wind flying , cutting Tobias's skin and sending him sprawling to the ground. Despite this, he was still able to roll out of the way of the lightning bolt.

"It's useless!" he chided as he leapt up and dreamed up his spear again, rushing towards Dragon. "As long as you have that tell-tale sign of throwing your arms down, I'll always know when you'll stri—AGH!"

Surprise stamped Tobias's face as a bolt of lightning flew down and struck him directly, sending electricity coursing through his veins. Unable to control himself, he dropped to the floor and started twitching spasmodically, blood flowing out of his mouth while he did it.

He looked up and saw that Dragon didn't raise his arm up that time. "How…" he finally managed to utter through the pain.

"Who said I always had to move my arm up or down to shoot a lightning bolt?" asked the grinning Dragon.

Robin chuckled, saying, "Clever…Setting up a ploy to make Tobias think one thing, and then catch him off-guard at the moment he's most vulnerable."

Tobias's twitching started to go down, and he was still able to keep his consciousness. He slowly began to heave himself up before falling towards the ground again in pain. Dragon simply stood there and watched this, the rain falling heavier than ever.

Surprisingly, the revolutionary said, "It's strange. Unlike your other companions, I don't feel the same type of hate emanating from you. Why did you partner yourself up with Victor, anyway?"

Tobias tried again to stand up, and this time was successful, steadying himself as he panted heavily. Even more surprising than the fact that Dragon just posed that question, was the fact that Tobias answered.

"It all started twenty years ago…on a peaceful island in the Grand Line…"

* * *

Dreaming into the past...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	120. The Dreamer

Coaxed into telling his side of the story... Enjoy!

**Sorry this was late...I seem to be saying that a lot, don't I?**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**120: The Dreamer**

Nami looked at Robin incredulously, saying, "Did you hear what he just said? He's got Tobias cornered and vulnerable, and instead of finishing him off, he asks him about his past!"

Robin nodded, staring intently at the two. She didn't speak for a long time, and finally, Nami grabbed her by the shoulder and asked:

"Why doesn't he just finish him off?"

Robin looked at Nami passively and simply responded with, "A leader who just kills his foes is a brute. A true leader is one who can defeat his enemies without having to kill them, and maybe at the end of it, they won't be enemies anymore…"

"What do you mean?" asked Nami as she raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"I mean that Dragon's goal is to change the hearts of everyone in the world to go against the World Government," stated Robin flatly, looking past the navigator now and staring at the two fighters. "How can he do that if he can't even change the mind of one man?"

Nami released her grip on Robin and stared at the revolutionary and the dreamer as well, not feeling like arguing anymore. Without a word of opposition, she dropped to the ground and rested her Perfect Clima-Tact against her shoulder.

"Now just be quiet and listen," instructed the Straw Hat's archaeologist. "His past might hold a key to something much more important…"

— — —

_Sintorei__ Island  
20 years ago/1502 AOS_

_"To think it's only been two years since Gold Roger has been executed," Abbot Baizor said to one of his disciples behind him._

_The disciple nodded in agreement, saying, "The eruption of piracy is only just beginning. It's enough to make anyone sick, don't you think, Abbot?"_

_Baizor let out a single grunt in seeming agreement with the disciple. They opened the door and entered the garden, where several bald-headed monks were tending to the plants. Abbot Baizor went to one of the square-shaped gardens where a monk was working, inspecting both his tall and short stalks of flowers._

_"Good season, Head-Cultivator Mendal?" asked the Abbot._

_Mendal nodded, saying, "Very good season, Abbot; the plants in the garden are growing quite nicely."_

_Baizor looked around and nodded, saying with a large grin, "It looks like it's going to be beautiful."_

_The disciple following Baizor raised an eyebrow as the Abbot started moving through the gardens again, exiting through the door on the other side. "Was there a purpose to that detour, Abbot?"_

_Baizor looked at the disciple and asked, "You did not think the flowers looked beautiful?"_

_"Oh, no, no," replied the disciple quickly. "I thought they were beautiful, but from a technical standpoint, wouldn't it have been much easier to just continue on the path we were on than going through the gardens?"_

_Baizor stopped and turned around, looking at the disciple. He shook his head and said, "Tobias, Tobias, you're far too direct and quick about things. Sometimes, you just need to stop by and enjoy the sights."_

_Tobias nodded and then did a traditional bow, saying, "Forgive me…"_

_Baizor smiled and patted Tobias's bald head, saying, "It is alright, Tobias. These are things you learn with time, and one day, mayhap when you're the abbot of this monastery one day, you shall take things at a slower pace as well."_

_"Me, Abbot?" Tobias seemed slightly taken aback by this statement, going so far as to take a retreating step and raising his hands up. "I don't think such a thing could possibly be in my future."_

_"You never know," Baizor said before beginning to walk again, Tobias following. "You are, after all, getting ordained today, becoming a more influential figure around here. A rather impressive feat at your young age, I must say."_

_Tobias smiled and said, "T-Thank you, Abbot."_

_"Now," said Baizor almost immediately, "time to quiz you to see if you're truly ready. First, a bit of history. When was our following first created?"_

_Tobias stumbled behind Baizor for a second, before starting with, "Umm…Our original belief was thought to have been created around 2,500 years ago called the Regulation of the Sun by a handful of philosophers. It was called that because they recognized the worth of the sun, and how it gave us life and food and how without it, we would be nothing."_

_"Good," muttered Baizor absently as they still continued walking. "Now tell me how our sect was founded on this island."_

_"Yes, uh…around 200 years ago, a sect broke away from the Regulation of the Sun and migrated to Sintorei Island, calling themselves the Order of the Thousand Suns, named after our belief that there might be more than one sun in the sky, which was in stark contrast with the original Regulation's beliefs that our sun was the only one to exist."_

_Baizor nodded. "Go on…"_

_"Right," said Tobias nervously. "There, they went to the tallest hill overlooking the small village and built the Flare Monastery, which we still reside at to this day…"_

_Abbot Baizor and Novice Tobias stopped when they reached a large pair of oaken double-doors. Baizor looked at Tobias and said, "Once I open this door, there's no going back, do you understand? No Novice has looked through these doors, save for when they're going to be ordained. Are you ready?"_

_"I am."_

_"Then let us proceed…"_

_Baizor opened the two doors, revealing a rather decent-sized square room covered in mats woven from straw. The room was filled to the brim with bookshelves filled with a large amount of scrolls, some of which were stuck to the wall. Baizor closed the door behind himself and Tobias as they stepped through, Tobias looking around with awestruck wonder._

_"Wow…" he said breathlessly._

_Baizor took out a scroll from a shelf and said, "This is where we get all of our knowledge on our teachings. It is the information center of Flare Monastery. However, this is not where you will be ordained."_

_Tobias blinked at him. "What?"_

_Baizor paid his comment no mind as he walked over to the far end of the room where a rather large table covered in scrolls was. He grabbed one end and said, "Give me a hand, will you Tobias?"_

_The Monastery Novice nodded and went to the other end of the table. With a heave, both monks lifted the table and moved it away from where it originally was, showing only the floor covered with woven mats as usual. Baizor kneeled down and picked up one end of the square mat that the table covered._

_"Abbot, I don't quite understand," insisted Tobias. "What do you mean I won't be ordained in here? Isn't this the room the novice's aren't allowed into?"_

_Baizor nodded. "It is indeed, but I guess you can say that this room is a cover for where you will really be ordained."_

_Tobias sighed and said, "I really don't understand. What exactly is going to—"_

_Abbot Baizor threw the woven mat to the side, revealing a secret door underneath it. Gripping its handle, Baizor threw it open with a grunt, revealing a hidden staircase that led to a darkened area._

_Baizor motioned to Tobias as he started to descend down the steps. "Come, Tobias, to where you will really be ordained."_

_Speechless, Tobias followed down the stairs, and after they descended, they turned around to see a room the same size as the one upstairs, yet this one was vastly different. On both sides were four stone pillars each, while the ground seemed to be made of marble. Behind the pillars were several oaken tables pressed against the wall, each carrying two ornamental candle-holders, all of them lit so they could see. However, the most stunning and obvious feature in this room was the large stone daibutsu—or statue. There, the indicated man was sitting cross-legged with both his arms held out in front of him and cupped in a giving gesture. He looked to be wearing the same red robe all the monks wore._

_Tobias tapped Baizor on the shoulder, pointing to the daibutsu and saying, "Is that…"_

_"Indeed," replied the Abbot. "That is the statue of the founder of the Order of the Sun from over 2,500 years ago. Unfortunately, his name is long-lost, but there were several pictures and descriptions to make a fairly accurate portrayal."_

_"Welcome, Novice Tobias!"_

_Tobias was so distracted by the sheer presence of the daibutsu that he didn't even notice about ten monks stood in front of it, all in a line standing at perfect attention. Taken aback, Baizor nudged Tobias forward, sending the young monk walking towards the ten men._

_When he was close enough, Baizor stopped him and walked past him, moving behind the ten monks towards the daibutsu, which Tobias still couldn't help but stare at. Baizor moved past the monks again, but this time, he held what looked to be a light-green fruit._

_The Abbot held the fruit out in front of him and asked, "Do you know what this is, Tobias?"_

_The monk inspected it, and after a long time, said, "I'm afraid I don't, Abbot…"_

_"This is what's known as a Devil Fruit," Baizor stated seriously. "200 years ago when the Order of the Thousand Suns separated from the Regulation of the Sun, one of the monks had brought this with them. Immediately after building Flare Monastery, the monks built this secret room and have left it here ever since."_

_Tobias stared at the Devil Fruit, fascinated. After several seconds, he looked up again and asked, "Why?"_

_"Because this fruit is known as the Dream-Dream Fruit," replied Baizor. "It is one of the most powerful fruits on this planet. With its power, you lose the ability to swim, but you'd be able to dream up anything into existence. It's been here for 200 years to protect the world from its awesome power, which if fallen into the wrong hands, could bring destruction to millions."_

_Tobias once again found himself looking at the giant daibutsu statue, somehow feeling like its stone eyes were watching him. "I see…" he said absently._

_One of the monks (who Tobias recognized immediately as Monk Gizo) stepped forward, and said, "If you're to ascend the rank of a Novice, Tobias, you must swear on all that you have been taught that you will do everything in your power to protect this fruit. If you cannot do that, then you cannot be ordained."_

_Tobias stared at the Devil Fruit for a long time, almost feeling the energy emanating from it. After several seconds, he looked at Gizo and said, "I will do everything in my power to protect it."_

_Gizo smiled lightly, saying, "Then let us begin…"_

— — —

_Sintorei Island was a rather small island on the Grand Line, yet peaceful nonetheless. It was so small, in fact, that all it consisted of was a small beach, Flare Monastery, and a port town known as Vassan Village. This was the only town on the entire island, and as such, it is to be expected that almost everyone lived there._

_Vassan__ Village__ was broken up into two sections. The Business Section, and the Suburban Section. The Business Section was located on the southern side of the island, extending from the docks where ships were stored, until the Dead-Man's Land, a large rectangular section of open dirt and rubble that separated the two districts. Past Dead-Man's Land was the Suburban District, where all the citizens lived, and behind that were the rather large hills, the largest of which housed Flare Monastery._

_Victor D. Capere landed on Sintorei Island on a slightly-larger-than-average dinghy knowing all of this. He was able to dock his ship with no problem, and walked calmly down the docks of the harbor, surveying his surroundings completely. In the Business Section, there was a lively bustle of commerce, and Victor took it all in as he walked through, surveying the shops and looking at their wares._

_"Nicer than I expected…" muttered to himself with a smile. He then looked up to the large building located on a hill in the distance._

_Absent-mindedly, he walked over to one of the shops where a woman was selling some kind of special meat found only on Sintorei Island. "Hey, you," she said, looking at Victor, who turned to her with an eyebrow raised. "Yeah, you. Come on over here; I've got something I think you're gonna like."_

_Victor obliged, scuffling over to her open-aired store. _

_She brought something up on the counter that looked like a sausage, albeit a slightly-different shade of color than what Victor was used to. "This here is known as Sintorei Sausage," the woman said with a grin. "It's regarded as a delicacy in most places, and it's only found here!"_

_"Is that so?" he asked._

_The woman cut off a piece and handed it to Victor, saying, "Try a free sample!"_

_Victor threw the piece of meat into his mouth, chewed on it thoughtfully, before declaring, "Tastes pretty good."_

_The woman grinned wolfishly, saying, "Like it, eh? Well why don't you buy some to take along with ya?"_

_"I'd love to," responded Victor, reaching for some money. He stopped, however, and pointed to the building on the hill overlooking Vassan Village. "Before I do though, could you kindly tell me what the name of that building is?"_

_"That?" asked the woman, looking at it. "That's Flare Monastery, where all the monks of this island live. They mostly keep to themselves though."_

_Victor nodded, putting down some money on the counter before turning away, saying, "Thanks for the info…"_

_The woman looked at the money and said, "Hey! Don't you want your purchase?"_

_"I'm fine," Victor replied, not even looking back. "You've given me all I needed anyways."_

_Victor didn't take ten steps further before he heard some people shouting. His ears picked up "World Government," and it was enough to let Victor know what was going on. He looked and saw a rather large galleon dock itself in the harbor, and almost immediately a large amount of marines filed from the ship, moving in marching order and knocking people out of the way._

_Not before long, the soldiers moved past Victor and knocked him to the ground, one of them saying, "Watch where you're going, kid!"_

_Victor simply smirked at this and when the marines moved past him, he helped himself up and looked at where they were going. Scratching the back of his head, he said to himself, "Wonder what their big hurry is…"_

* * *

Trouble on the horizon...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	121. The Dreamer 2: Meeting at Gunpoint

A knock of fate... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**121: The Dreamer 2- Meeting at Gunpoint**

_Three successive raps on Flare Monastery's door was all it took before the door finally creaked open._

_A novice to the Order—a teenager by the looks of it, who went by the name of Ashoka—opened it and immediately saw three men in black suits surrounded from behind by several marines. _

_The man wearing the black suit in the middle looked to be around six feet with black hair slicked back while his grizzled face adorned several small battle scars. He grinned at Ashoka, saying, "Hello, my name is Korath, and I'm the head of the Cipher Pol Number 6 stationed not too far away from her. I've ventured to Sintorei Island on behalf of the World Government and was wondering if I may speak to your Abbot."_

_After a few seconds, Ashoka asked, "What business, may I ask?"_

_"Unfortunately it's business that does not concern you directly, so I have no obligation to let you know," replied Korath smoothly. "Now may we come in?"_

_Ashoka eyed the three CP6 members suspiciously, and was about to answer, before someone appeared behind him and asked, "What's going on?"_

_Everyone looked to see that the voice belonged to none other than Abbot Baizor, flanked by Gizo, Tobias, and the nine other monks present at the latter's ordination. Korath beamed even wider saying, "Abbot Baizor, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Korath from CP6, and I wish to speak with you on behalf of the World Government."_

_Ashoka looked at Baizor and then Tobias skeptically before looking at the Abbot and, asking, "Abbot, is Tobias's ordination…"_

_"Completed," answered Baizor quickly before looking at Korath again. "Very well, you three men may enter, but I request that you leave your marines outside, as we allow no weapons on our premise."_

_"But of course," replied Korath smoothly, doing a bow. "You honor us by allowing us inside your beautiful monastery."_

_Baizor turned around and started walking away, saying, "Perhaps you'd like to talk in our garden. Our Head-Cultivator Mendal has grown beautiful flowers that I'm sure you'd enjoy seeing."_

_The three CP6 members entered through the large doors into the monastery, their marine battalion waiting outside. Tobias quickly jogged up to Baizor, saying, "What do you think they want, Abbot?"_

_"I know not," replied the calm leader, "but you shall stay quietly on the sidelines and watch. It shall be a good experience for you."_

_The group was led out to the gardens, where a decorated table made of stone was in the middle. Abbot Baizor sat on one end while Tobias, Gizo, and a handful of monks stood behind him, while Korath sat on the other end with his two fellow CP6 agents standing behind him as well._

_Baizor offered the men tea and then ask, "So what brings the World Government to such a sleepy little island?"_

_Korath happily accepted the tea and took a sip, saying, "Well, to put it simply, Abbot Baizor, the World Government wants to make a proposition with you."_

_"What kind of proposition?"_

_The CP6 leader took blew on the tea to make it cooler before taking another sip. He then put it down and said very seriously, "Well, to put it simply, the World Government wants to buy this land from you."_

_Tobias gasped in shock, and immediately put on an angered look, gripping his fists and gritting his teeth. Gizo noticed this and put his hand on his shoulder as if to try and calm him down._

_Baizor put his teacup down and asked in a rather calm voice, "What does the World Government want with the land we currently occupy?"_

_"Well, ya see, it's like this," said Korath almost immediately, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his hands together. "Your _beautiful_ monastery happens to be sitting on the largest hill on this island that overlooks the ocean. And while Sintorei Island itself is not a hub for pirates and other forms of villainy, but several large surrounding islands are. So, in order to be more effective at keeping peace in the Grand Line, the World Government would like to replace your monastery with Marine Base."_

_Tobias couldn't contain himself anymore. "Outrageous! How dare you come into this spiritual place and say you want to turn it into a base of barbarism?"_

_"Tobias, calm yourself! You've just been ordained and this is how you want to start off?" Gizo said quickly, putting Tobias in his place._

_The recently-ordained monk scowled before looking down at the ground, keeping quiet. Baizor took another sip of tea before saying, "Sorry, but I respectfully refuse your offer."_

_"What?"_

_"We own this land," continued Baizor, "and we intend to keep it this way. I respectfully refuse the World Government's offer; tell them they'll have to look someplace else."_

_Korath gritted his teeth before completely downing his tea, putting his cup down, and standing up, saying, "Very well. We'll take our leave then. Thank you for letting us into your monastery. The gardens truly are beautiful."_

_Baizor nodded as the three CP6 members left the gardens quickly. One of the members asked, "So are we just giving up then?"_

_Korath stepped out of the monastery's double-doors towards his marines and said coolly, "Of course not. The World Government expected this sort of thing to happen, and fortunately we have a plan on standby…"_

_As soon as the doors to Flare Monastery closed, Abbot Baizor stood up and looked at the monks behind him, smiling and saying, "Well that went well."_

_"Well?" Tobias practically roared. "How can you remain so calm about something like this?"_

_Baizor looked at Tobias quizzically. "Exactly what is the problem, Tobias?"_

_"Problem?" shot back an incredulous Tobias. "They want to use Flare Monastery—which has stood for 200 years—as a base to track down pirates!"_

_The Abbot smiled calmly and said, "Well it's a good thing we turned them down, right?"_

_"No!" shouted Tobias. "You think they're just gonna let this be? They'll be back, I guarantee you! And this time, they won't be so nice. But you all just seem content on staying here and letting it happen!"_

_Gizo stepped forward saying, "You don't know that, Tobias. You're simply acting on—"_

_"No," said Baizor bluntly, cutting Gizo off before looking at the young monk. "Tobias, you are far too emotional. Perhaps it was too early to ordain you after all…"_

_Tobias was taken aback at this statement, opening his mouth slightly, before closing it again and storming out of the garden, going towards the monastery doors. "Well I'm not going to just let the World Government do whatever they want. I'm going to go and be proactive about this!"_

_"Tobias, wait!" shouted Gizo._

_Abbot Baizor put his arm out and said calmly, "Let him be. He needs to deal with the situation himself."_

_Tobias saw no resistance as he opened the large oaken doors of Flare Monastery and walked out, cursing under his breath…_

— — —

_Victor D. Capere strolled down the market district of Vassan Village, throwing a newly-purchased apple in the air and catching it, a grin on his face. He threw it up once more before catching it and tearing a large chunk out of it, chewing thoughtfully as he moved down the street towards the large structure in the mountains._

_"Almost there, now…" he muttered, taking another bite out of his apple absent-mindedly._

_He was then bumped from behind and stumbled forward, dropping his apple and almost losing his footing. From behind, he heard, "Watch it, ya fuckin' idiot!"_

_Victor rubbed the back of his head and looked behind him to see a ragtag group of men—maybe twelve or so—standing behind him, with one man in the front. He was rather large, at least six feet, wearing a ratty-looking red vest underneath a white corsair's shirt opened halfway, tucked into his baggy patched-up pants. The man himself looked angry, with long unkempt black hair and a pair of sunglasses over his eyes._

_Victor didn't seem intimidated by the man, but simply stared at him with a certain intensity, saying, "I think it might be best if you just move along before something bad happens…"_

_Silence reigned for a few seconds as the two men stared each other down._

_"Yo, Captain…" one of his men said indignantly, putting his hand on the man's shoulder._

_The large man quickly shook him off, muttering, "Sorry 'bout that…" _

_"Don't worry about it," Victor grinned back._

_The man turned around going in the same direction Victor was going in, saying, "Come on boys, there's no time to waste."_

_His men reluctantly followed, leaving Victor standing where he was and looking down at his fallen dusty apple, letting loose a small grunt of annoyance before turning around to buy another apple._

— — —

_Tobias was no fool. _

_He knew what the World Government was truly pining for, and it wasn't to tear down their monastery to put up a marine base. They wanted to tear their monastery down in order to get their hands on what they were protecting. Something Tobias himself had just been made aware of, but was smart enough to put the pieces toge—_

_Tobias didn't look where he was going (he was too deep in thought) and before he knew it, he was down from the hill on which the monastery resided and before he even knew it, he was on the main road of Vassan Village, and before he even knew that, he bumped into a rather large and shabby looking gentleman._

_"What's this, again?" the large man asked angrily, his twelve or so men behind him snickering like schoolchildren._

_Tobias (doing as he was taught), immediately recoiled, did his deepest bow, and said, "I'm terribly sorry, I didn't see where I was going."_

_"You're fuckin' right about that," the large man sneered. He then seemed to notice Tobias's strange clothing and said, "You're from that chapel up there, ain'tcha?"_

_"Monastery, actually," corrected Tobias. "Flare Monastery to be accur—"_

_The man gripped Tobias by his collar and heaved him up, bringing Tobias's face close to the large man's. "I don't really care what it's called. I'll teach ya what happens when you bump into Randall Fannin and have the stones to talk back to him!"_

_He dealt Tobias a quick blow to the side of his face, sending the young monk reeling to the ground and gripping his face in pain. Before Tobias could even stand up again, the large man named Randall Fannin kicked him bluntly in his stomach, sending Tobias gripping his stomach in pain while falling onto his back, gasping for breath._

_"Brahahahaha!" laughed Fannin, his men happily joining in on the merriment. "Quite a winner we got this time, eh boys? I guess all those monks must be total weaklings!"_

_Tobias, still gripping his stomach, attempted to weakly stand up, but found that he couldn't. Fannin spat on the ground in disgust and drew a pistol, aiming it straight at the terrified Tobias._

_"You bore me…" he said. "So do us a favor and just die!"_

_Just before Fannin pulled the trigger, an object flew towards him and struck the gun, sending it off to the side and causing him to pull the trigger on impulse, the bullet only grazing Tobias's cheek instead of piercing his forehead. Fannin muttered a quick curse as he gripped his injured hand before he looked to see the offending item that hit him._

_It was an apple._

_"To think I'd meet you again so soon…" muttered the offender, as Tobias quickly turned to see whose voice it belonged to._

_He saw none other than Victor D. Capere, who calmly stepped forward with a confident grin on his face. Fannin seemed to shake visibly by his presence, and quickly holstered his weapon._

_"Captain, it's that guy again!" his men shouted behind him. "Let's kill him right now before he fucks with our plans anymore!"_

_Randall Fannin quickly turned his head and shouted back to them, "Shut the fuck up!"_

_"You can try killing me if you want," Victor said with both hands in his pockets, calmly strolling over towards Tobias, still staring intently at Fannin. "But at the very worst, it would end in a tie. So why don't we just call it even and you guys get out of here."_

_One of Fannin's men stepped forward, drawing his cutlass and saying, "I can't take this offense anymore! Let me at him, Captain, and I'll—"_

_Victor let loose a burst of Haki, sending all the men shivering and frozen in their place with fear; Tobias only looked up in amazement. "I'll only say it once more," warned Victor, his tone dropping to a deadly low. "Leave now…"_

_Fannin looked like he was about to speak, but a bullet flew between the two groups, grabbing all of their attention. They turned to see none other than CP6 leader Korath standing at the head of a group of marines (one of which fired the shot) with a smile._

_"Well what do we have here?" he asked casually, taking a step forward while looking between Fannin, Victor, and Tobias. "To me it looks like we have one group unnecessarily terrorizing one another."_

_"That's right!" Tobias immediately said, pointing to Fannin. "He started the conflict between us and—"_

_"Shut up!" commanded Korath, silencing the young monk. The CP6 leader looked at Victor and said, "You look to be the main instigator here, so we'll start with you." He turned towards the marines behind him. "Arrest him."_

_Victor took a step back saying, "What? You can't be serious! I was helping this monk after he was attacked by these pirates!"_

_"Pirates?" questioned Korath with an amused look on his face, looking at Fannin. "There's far too few and they looked much too shabby to be pirates—mountain bandits, maybe, but pirates? No."_

_"Hey!" started the incredulous Fannin. "You can't just come here and say—"_

_"I believe I'm helping you out," stated Korath seriously. "So if you know what's good for you, you'll shut your mouth immediately."_

_Fannin followed his orders immediately._

_The marines moved forward with a pair of handcuffs, moving towards the stationary Victor. Tobias was on his feet at this point and said, "Hey, you can't do that! The man is speaking the truth! It is unjust to arrest him!"_

_"Ah, you're that monk from the monastery that turned the World Government down," Korath said with a little chuckle. "Unfortunately, what we saw was this man intimidating the others until they were fit to piss their pants, and our job is to keep the peace. So if I say he'll be arrested, he'll be arrested!"_

_Just as the marine was about to cuff Victor, Tobias let out a roar of anger and punched the marine right in the side of his face, sending him to the ground with a grunt. Korath watched this all very calmly as the marines moved in closer towards the two. _

_"Arrest him as well."_

_Both Victor and Tobias were surrounded and subsequently handcuffed. Korath let out a laugh as the two were led away towards the marine ship they came in on to be put in the prison. Fannin watched all of this and walked away slowly with his men, not wanting to invoke the World Government's wrath himself…_

* * *

Captured!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	122. The Dreamer 3: Thousand Sun Death March

With Victor and Tobias under arrest... Enjoy!

**This is the year anniversary of One Piece: The Night. I didn't think it would go on for this long, but apparently I was wrong...Oh well, if you've been enjoying it for a year (or less), that's all I can ask for.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**122: The Dreamer 3- Thousand Sun Death March**

_The day was growing darker now, as night was soon approaching. Abbot Baizor stared out the largest window of Flare Monastery, looking at the path leading down to Vassan Village, hoping to catch even a glimpse of Tobias coming back up the road to reenter the monastery and continue his way of life under the Order of the Thousand Suns._

_Head-Cultivator Mendal and Monk Gizo appeared behind Baizor, feeling his anxiety. Gizo spoke first, taking a step forward while saying, "Abbot, I know you're concerned about Tobias's wellbeing, but there are more pressing matters at hand."_

_Baizor glanced behind himself to see both men standing there, yet he did not grace them with a word._

_Mendal cleared his throat and continued, "We all know full well that the World Government is not going to stop if we simply refuse them. They'll be back, and we have to be prepared in case—"_

_"There's nothing they can do legally, and that should end the matter," said Baizor in a cold yet clear voice._

_Gizo gritted his teeth slightly. "Think rationally for a second, Baizor! You know just as well as we do that the World Government doesn't just want to tear down our monastery so they can set up a marine base. They're after the Devil Fruit we've been housing for 200 years, the Devil Fruit which could cause great danger if fallen into the wrong hands."_

_Silence from the Abbot, and then: "What would you suggest we do?"_

_"Counter-measures must be prepared," stated Mendal clearly. "Perhaps moving the fruit to a safer room or—"_

_"That's the safest place at Flare Monastery," said Baizor quickly. "Moving it would be pointless. If we're to talk about this, let's go into your garden, Mendal. It would make the mood much more pleasant."_

_Mendal and Gizo looked at each other before the latter nodded. "Very well then. Let's go and discuss how—"_

_"Abbot Baizor, there's someone at the door," a monk said, running in to interrupt the conversation. _

_"Who?" immediately asked Gizo._

_The monk shook his head. "I don't know, but there's around twelve men there it looks like."_

_"Deny them access," stated Mendal immediately._

_Baizor shook his head and said, "Let us go see who they are and speak with them."_

_"But Abbot, if they—" started Gizo._

_Baizor started moving towards the doors, saying, "It's not our job to judge things prematurely. We need to give everyone a fair chance to speak their mind. If we don't like it after that, then we can decide what to do from there…"_

_Gizo and Mendal had no choice but to follow Baizor, as he opened the doors of Flare Monastery to see twelve or thirteen ragtag looking men. "How may I help you?" he asked in a very diplomatic tone._

_"Hey there, we've just come here to talk for a bit. May we come in?" asked the grinning figure of Randall Fannin._

— — —

_"I'm sorry to have gotten you into this…"_

_Tobias turned his head to the side to look at Victor past the iron bars separating the two of them. After a few seconds of looking, the monk rested his head on the wall behind him and said, "Don't be sorry. I made the choice myself."_

_Victor uttered a small laugh, saying, "You sure do like to take things in stride, don'tcha?"_

_Immediately after being arrested by the CP6, both Victor and Tobias were escorted to the marine ship, where they were both uncuffed and put in separate prison cells at the bottom of the galleon. There, they both sat in relative silence for a while, until Victor decided to finally break it._

_Silence reigned for a while more, until Victor looked at Tobias again and said, "Don'tcha think it was a little weird that those CP6 people arrested us, yet not Fannin and his crew? I mean, they're clearly pirates—"_

_"Pirates…" scowled Tobias. "The reason the World Government has an excuse to try and take our monastery…what scum."_

_Victor grinned and said, "Ain't that the truth? Anyways, it seems out of the ordinary that they would just let them go while arresting us."_

_Tobias nodded, stating, "Either they just didn't want to arrest those pirates, or they plan on using them for something, and I'm willing to bet it's the latter."_

_"Absolutely," agreed Victor. "The World Government's so corrupt I wouldn't put it past them, and if your story is true, then they're most likely heading for Flare Monastery. I just can't seem to wrap it around my head as to why they'd go through so much trouble to do it, though."_

_Tobias glanced at Victor and prepared to stand up, saying, "Isn't it obvious? Our monastery houses the Dream-Dream Fruit, which is a very potent Devil Fruit. I don't know how the World Government got information that we were hiding it, but if they got it in their hands, they would most definitely misuse it."_

_Victor's eyes shined in admiration, as he said quietly, "So it's true…"_

_"What?" asked Tobias, walking towards the bars._

_Victor shook his head, while he too was standing up. "I'm just amazed that those long-gone rumors I've heard about this place are true. You really do house one of the most amazing Devil Fruits around. Oh what I'd give just to go into your beautiful monastery and look at it."_

_Tobias glanced at Victor and said, "So you'd want to see the fruit too, then?"_

_Victor got his connotation and immediately put his hands up in a non-threatening motion. "No, no, it's not that I want to steal it or anything. I simply wanted to confirm if the rumors were true. You see, I'm something of a Devil Fruit Collector and Cataloguer, and while I'd love to have the fruit myself, I'm not stupid enough to try and steal it while surrounded by enemies in their heavily-guarded facility."_

_Tobias let out a small smirk, saying, "At least you're honest. Unfortunately, if we don't do something fast, there won't be a monastery to go to. So what say you and I try and figure a way out of here?"_

_Victor couldn't help but laugh a bit before nodding. He put his hand through the iron bars separating the two and said, "They didn't handcuff us—good luck for us, bad for them—so let's take advantage of the situation. My name's Victor D. Capere, by the way."_

_The monk gripped Victor's hand and gave him a firm handshake, saying back, "My name's Tobias, monk of Flare Monastery from the Order of the Thousand Suns, and I'd be more than happy to take up your offer, Mr. Capere."_

_"Just Victor," he said, pulling his arm back and stepping away. "So let's get outta here and show those pirates and the World Government what we're made out of!"_

_Tobias nodded, and set himself to thinking as to how they could escape._

_Victor looked at his new companion and asked innocently, "Say, are you thirsty?"  
"What?"_

_"I'm pretty parched myself," mused Victor. _"I SAID I'M FUCKIN' DYING OF THIRST OVER HERE! PRISONERS SHOULDN'T BE LEFT WITHOUT SOME WATER, GOD DAMMIT!"

_Tobias simply stared at the shouting Victor quizzically as they heard footsteps coming down towards them. A young-looking marine grumbled saying, "Keep your voice down! You're only going to make it worse for yourself."_

_Victor lied down on the floor before the marine showed up, and when he spoke, he tilted his head up saying, "Well it seems to be the only way we can get fuckin' anything around here. So can I please get a cup of water before I die of thirst over here?"_

_"Only if you promise to shut the fuck up afterwards," reasoned the marine._

_"Deal."_

_The marine shook his head and began to walk away to get some water, as Tobias looked at Victor with a puzzled look, while the latter only smiled and winked at him. Victor hopped to his feet as the marine started coming back with a small bowl of water in his hand._

_"And that's all you're gonna get," he said as he moved closer towards the bars. "By the way, this is coming out of the water for your dinner."_

_Victor nodded and moved closer, beginning to hold his arm out. Then, quick as lightning, he shot his arm through the bar and was able to grab the marine's outstretched hand. Within a second, he yanked his own arm back, sending the hapless marine smashing his face against the iron bars. Moving with efficiency, Victor shot his free arm through the bar and was able to grab the keys on the marine's belt before dealing him another fierce smash against the bars, knocking him out like a light._

_Tobias stared at this with a fascinated look, as Victor took the keys and stuck it through the lock from the other side, giving it a quick turn and opening the gate. He sauntered over towards Tobias's cell and did the same thing, letting him free as well._

_"How did you know that would work?" questioned the monk as he walked out of his cell._

_Victor tossed the keys on the marine's unconscious form and grabbed the pistol he kept as his side, answering, "I didn't. If that plan didn't work out, I had about three other things I could've tried, but luckily we got it on the first shot."_

_He handed the pistol over to Tobias, who looked at him in a confused look._

_"In case we get into a fight, you can defend yourself," said Victor, putting the weapon in the monk's hand._

_"I've never fired a weapon before; I've never needed to," Tobias said, mostly to himself as he looked down at the pistol he was now holding. "I never thought I'd have to…especially with what I was taught."_

_"Well now's a good time to forget," said Victor quickly, walking towards the stairs leading up to the deck. "It's time to learn fast and act even faster; it's the only way we can succeed. So let's go!"_

_After a second, Tobias nodded, gripped the pistol tightly, and followed Victor up the stairs…_

_It didn't take long for the two to reach the deck, where they weren't noticed quite yet. They both saw that there were around fifteen marines on the deck, all armed and watching the ship._

_"We gotta be strategic now," whispered Victor to Tobias. "If we fuck up, we're dead."_

_Tobias nodded, but something past the ship caught his gaze. In the distance past Vassan Village, he saw what looked to be a fierce glow, and it was right where Flare Monastery should be!_

_Immediately thinking the worst, Tobias hopped up and fired his pistol, grazing a marine not looking and grabbing all the other's attention. _

_"Idiot!" cursed Victor, standing up and running towards the closest marine and tackling him to the ground._

_Tobias only glanced at Victor, and then back at the glow_

(fire)

_at Flare Monastery. With one nod, Victor seemed to get it and said while punching a marine, "I got it! Go save your monastery! I'll take care of these guys for ya!"_

_Tobias nodded and immediately began to sprint towards the edge of the ship, and before any marine could catch him, he had leapt of and took off towards Vassan Village. Some marines aimed their weapons at his back, but Victor let out a roar and kicked one right in the side of his head, sending yet another marine sprawling and taking their attention off of Tobias and back on Victor's._

_"Sorry," he said with a smirk while striking up a fighting position. "You have me to worry, not some simply monk who's never fired a gun before!"_

_With that, he charged at the marines again._

— — —

_Even at his fastest, it took Tobias a long time to get through Vassan Village and towards the road to Flare Monastery, and as he got closer, his worst fears were confirmed. The monastery was on fire, although he noticed the flames were burning considerably low._

_"Damn it!" cursed the monk, still in an all-out sprint up the path. "Don't let me be too late!"_

_He was._

_When he arrived at what should have been the door, he saw only rubble, smoke, and ash. For Tobias, Flare Monastery, which as stood for 200 years, was no more. He was about to let out a massive cry of fury, before he heard a few voices._

_Taking cover behind a still partially-standing wall, the monk saw none other than Randall Fannin with only six men (no doubt some were lost in the fight with the monks, Tobias reckoned), and standing right across from him was CP6 Leader Korath with his three other CP6 members and a score of marines behind him._

_"Brahahahaha, it wasn't hard at all!" brayed Fannin, loud enough for Tobias to hear it. "Those stupid monks were probably pacifists, and didn't put up much of a struggle at all, even after we set fire to their precious garden."_

_Korath seemed disgusted by his words and asked, "But did you find it?"_

_"The fruit?" questioned Fannin. "No. We asked that stupid Abbot, but when he refused to tell us, we just shot him and decided to look ourselves."_

_Tobias grinded his teeth and clenched his jaw. He then began to move away from the wall towards the secret room housing the Dream-Dream Fruit. _"Hopefully, some are still alive and holed up in there,"_ the monk thought futilely as he silently moved through the rubble so as not to attract attention to himself._

_"Anyways, we did what you asked and razed this place to the ground," Fannin continued to Korath, "so our job is done. Will you be paying us in silver or gold?"_

_"Neither," Korath said bluntly. "Only in lead."_

_Quick as lightning, Korath drew his pistol and shot Fannin in his chest, sending the pirate reeling and falling on his back in pain, his seven other pirates reacting in shock as Korath's men opened fire on them likewise, sending all of them to the ground._

_"We'll search for the Devil Fruit ourself!" shouted Korath to his men. "Start looking!"_

"Pirate got what he deserved…" _thought Tobias as he found the room he needed._

_He quickly threw off the mats to reveal the secret door. Holding his breath, he opened it and jumped down into the secret room, closing the door behind him. As soon as he hit the floor, all of his hope disappeared._

"AAAAAARRRRRRRRGH!"

_There, on the floor of the secret room, lay a good ten monks, all of them unmoving. He immediately looked down and saw that one of them was Gizo. It appeared that they died from inhaling too much smoke from the fire, or perhaps a more painful way that Tobias couldn't fathom._

_The young monk threw his fist straight into the chest of the giant metal daibutsu at the end of the room. It seemed to be unharmed, and in its open hands the Dream-Dream Fruit still lay._

_"WHY?" he shouted, tears streaming down his face. "Why did this have to happen…"_

_The monk slumped to the floor holding his knees close to his chest while letting out strangled sobs of anguish, while above him the giant daibutsu continued to look forward with his same stoic face as always._

(it's time to learn fast and act even faster; it's the only way we can succeed)

_Tobias lifted his head up and then stood up, facing the daibutsu yet again. He stretched out his arm and grabbed the Dream-Dream Fruit, bringing it close to his face._

_"Abbot, everyone…please forgive me…"_

— — —

_"How can it be so hard to find one damned Devil Fruit?" questioned the clearly-angered Korath. "Come on, we have a job to do and we need to finish fast!"_

_The marines looked just about to answer, but a loud explosion behind them cut them off. Everyone immediately looked to see the ground in one area collapse, and none other than Tobias the Dreamer rise from it._

_"You!" spat Korath in disbelief. "Where did you just come from?"_

_Tobias didn't speak, merely letting the tears coursing down his face speak for him. Letting out a bellow of rage, he clasped his hands together and dreamed up a large hulking metal object behind him, looking just like the daibutsu in the secret room, only much large and wearing a face of anger._

_"Kill him!" roared Korath._

_But it was too late…_

— — —

_Victor happened upon the ruins not but a few minutes later. He had seen the battle and heard the screams in the distance, and it let him know everything that was happening. When he walked up towards Flare Monastery, he saw that it was perfectly rebuilt in its most magnificent form, towering above all else._

_Victor quickly walked through the gates and seemed to know where to go. Soon, he found himself in the gardens, where he saw Tobias sitting there alone, his look was stony and hard._

_Victor looked around and said, "It can't last forever, you know…"_

_Tobias gazed up at him with a glazed look. Then, he softly said, "I can't dream up humans…"_

_Victor shook his head, saying, "An unfortunate setback indeed."_

_Silence for a few seconds._

_"You can't stay here anymore," Victor finally stated. "After attacking the World Government, you'll become wanted. Besides, I'd imagine you're the type to not let something like this go unanswered for."_

_Tobias slowly nodded his head._

_Victor held his hand out then, saying with a kind smile, "I'm afraid I lied to you earlier, Tobias. When I say I'm a Devil Fruit Collector, I meant that I eat every Devil Fruit I come across, and it has given me great power. Enough power, in fact, to destroy everything that is evil in this world all at once."_

_"How?"_

_"By culminating every Devil Fruit power I have, I can release it all at once, letting loose a torrent of energy that's capable of complete destruction. Your assets would help me greatly Tobias, so I'm asking you if you would like to join me and lend a hand in the destruction of all pirates and the World Government."_

_After a few seconds, Tobias grabbed Victor's hand and stood up. Without sharing any more words, Victor and the Dreamer walked out of the doors of Flare Monastery, and as soon as they left, the dream disappeared, returning it to the rubble it had become._

— — —

Monkey D. Dragon was speechless for Tobias the Dreamer's story.

"I never imagined…" gasped Nami to Robin.

Surprisingly, the former-monk's past story had taken away his usually-stoic expression and replaced it with sorrow, as fresh tears began to come to life again. "That is why I am with Victor," he said in an angered tone. "He offered me salvation in a world full of darkness, and with his power, we can be rid of pirates and the World Government alike, and be able to start anew!"

"You know that won't work…" said Dragon softly, taking a step towards him.

Tobias was clearly enraged right now and took a step back, throwing his arms back and saying, "Shut up! Your idealism has no place in the real world, and I intend to fully crush you and your notions of fantasy right now!"

He threw both his arms together in what looked to be a prayer gesture, while above his head he dreamed up a colossal floating and seated iron daibutsu with the same gesture Tobias had. The Dreamer let out a roar as he did it, saying:

"This is my ultimate technique, and it will show you just how wrong all of you truly are about this world!"

* * *

Pulling out all the stops!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	123. Stop Dreaming, Start Acting

Revealing his greatest move! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**123: Stop Dreaming, Start Acting**

The winds picked up fiercely as Tobias the Dreamer struck up a fighting position, the giant daibutsu behind him following his exact movements. Dragon still stood there calmly, injured from his prolonged fight with Tobias, but still able to put up a fight. Besides, Dragon noticed something about his enemy as well.

_"His breathings getting increasingly erratic,"_ thought the revolutionary. _"Whatever he dreamed up and the longevity of the battle is taking its toll on him."_

Nami gripped her Perfect Clima-Tact and said to Robin, "Come on, we have to help him out! There's no telling what Tobias can do with that thing!"

Robin nodded and they both were about to move, but Dragon's commanding voice stopped them.

"Stop! You will both stay out of this fight and let me finish it alone!"

"What?" shouted back an incredulous Nami. "Don't be stupid, you're gonna need help!"

Dragon shook his head and struck up a fighting stance as well, the wind becoming so powerful at that moment it started to splinter the trees around them. "I said no! You will stay back and let me finish this my own way!"

"Robin!" said a frenzied Nami looking up at the archaeologist. "We can't just stay here and watch them fight!"

Robin, however, remained silent for a long time, staring intently at the battlefield between Dragon and Tobias. Finally, she said, "No, we will step back and simply become spectators. Before you can protest, let me just tell you that Dragon always knows what he's doing, and if he plans on finishing the fight with Tobias his own way, then he'll do it, and if it doesn't include us, then we must stay back."

Nami began to open her mouth to answer back, but when she found no words, she closed it again.

Dragon tilted his head a little to the side as thunder rumbled in the darkened night sky. He looked at the bloodied Tobias right in his eyes and said, "You went through a pretty traumatic past, but do you think that complete and total destruction will change anything?"

"Yes!" replied Tobias immediately through his gasps. "This world is too corrupt, and the only way to fix it is to start anew; start from scratch, and build it up the right way!"

"And Victor holds that power…" said Dragon softly.

Tobias nodded vigorously, saying, "The ultimate power of his Devil Fruit is to combine all of his stolen powers at once and release it on the world in a powerful burst! He just thought that One Piece would be the best vantage point to do it from!"

"I see…" stated the revolutionary. "Then I have no choice but to end this quickly."

"You can try!" Tobias shot back, shifting his position so the giant floating daibutsu followed suit. "I've poured all of my rage into this dream, and I intend to use it to crush you into nothing!"

With that, the Dreamer leapt forward, the daibutsu following behind him with every move he makes. Dragon also sped towards Tobias so he could meet him halfway. The wind picking up to deadly velocities, Dragon leapt into the air an attempt to attack Tobias from above.

The Dreamer, however, looked up and quickly moved his arm in an arcing motion. Before Dragon could react, the daibutsu followed Tobias's motion and smashed his giant iron hand right into the revolutionary's side, sending him flying through a wall of the Ancient Kingdom's ruins.

"You had the right idea, Dragon, but you just didn't follow through quick enough!" roared Tobias as he sprinted towards the rubble where Dragon fell. "You clung vainly to your ideals and because of that, innocent people have suffered due to the cruelty of pirates and the World Government!"

Before Tobias could bring down the final blow on the rubble, several large stones from where Dragon fell flew up and almost immediately flew towards Tobias, who reacted quickly and brought his arms up in a shielding motion, the daibutsu doing the same, shielding his smaller body and taking the blow with its large iron arms.

Almost immediately after that, Dragon leapt towards Tobias's side and attempted to move his arms so as to slice him with a deadly amount of wind. Before he could, however, the daibutsu smashed his entire body with the back of its palm, sending it flying towards the ground again.

_"IT'S USELESS!"_ shouted the Dreamer.

Dragon staggered to his feet, coughing up a good amount of blood before saying, "You fool…following Victor was probably the worst thing you could have ever done if you wished to bring peace!"

"Shut up! You know nothing!"

Tobias moved his arm again in a striking motion, his daibutsu following, but Dragon was ready this time, leaping out of the way and raising his arm up high. Almost immediately, he brought it back down again, sending a bolt of lightning ripping from the sky. Unfortunately, Dragon didn't count on Tobias throwing his arm up in the same motion and the lightning bolt being redirected towards the metal daibutsu striking the same pose.

"He's taken advantage of the previous knowledge gained when fighting Dragon and has already prepared countermeasures for it," said Robin with a grimace.

Rain pounded the battlefield hard as thunder continued its monotonous roaring sound, the winds intent on drowning the sound out with its intense howl. Tobias didn't mind as he immediately attempted to bring the electrified daibutsu's palm crashing down on Monkey D. Dragon.

With a massive grunt, however, Dragon brought both his arms up, sending a powerful burst of wind flying towards the daibutsu's oncoming electrified palm. Continuing to move his arms up in a continuous motion, sending more powerful gusts of wind towards the figure, slowing it down. Tobias attempted to counter by doubling the attack force, but at this point they were at a stalemate, both men standing at the same location and glaring daggers at the other, grimaces appearing on their faces.

Letting out a massive roar, Dragon sent on more powerful burst of wind towards Tobias, and he won, sending enough force to bring Tobias and the daibutsu falling onto their backs, a massive rumble being let loose from the ground as the daibutsu crushed the trees beneath it.

Dragon stood there, hunched over on his knees and wheezing as sweat dripped down his face; he was clearly exhausted. _"Not yet…"_ he thought. _"Just a little bit more…"_

After several seconds, Tobias stood up, his daibutsu following suit, returning to the upright position. Also breathing heavily, he said to the revolutionary, "You persist so much in attempting to overthrow the World Government, yet after six years of being on the world stage, you've accomplished nothing significant. So how can you stand there and tell me that my method of bringing justice is flawed?"

"Because my way is correct," Dragon said almost immediately. "In order to beat the World Government, we first have to win over the hearts and minds of the people. Only then, can true justice and stability be served."

Tobias spat at this, striking up another fighting position and saying, "Such stunning naïveté on your part. I was once disillusioned like you, however, back when I thought the world was mostly a good place, but in the end, the people will kill each other like wolves just to get some personal gain. Your mission of peace and justice can never be achieved as long as humans live on it!"

Nami sensed a change in the air, and reacted almost immediately, looking at Robin and saying, "Quick, we have to find a safe hiding place!"

"What?" questioned Robin immediately, engrossed in the fight she was watching. "Why?"

Nami brought her voice down to a hush and said, "There's a real powerful storm coming, and I think Dragon knows it; that's why he's buying time by talking. Now quickly, is there any safe place among these ruins where we can hide?"

Robin thought for a while and then said, "The people of the Ancient Kingdom used to have to deal with a plethora of weather issues, and they found that the best defense was a room underground from which to hide until the worst was over."

Nami looked to the closest standing wall and pointed to it, asking, "Would a place like that have one?"

Robin looked at it and then nodded, saying, "Let's go!"

Both women began to run across the tree-line towards the ruins of a building; Dragon took note of this, Tobias did not. He was too busy seething at his enemy in front of him.

Dragon then smirked at the Dreamer and moved towards him again and incredible speeds. "Charging at me again?" shouted the incredulous Tobias, raising the daibutsu's arm to strike. "Haven't you learned that I'll just smash you again?"

When Dragon was close enough, Tobias brought his arm down to strike, but in a move that surprised the Dreamer, Dragon swiped his arm behind him, sending a powerful burst of wind towards his back and propelling him forward, completely avoiding the daibutsu's palm which would have undoubtedly smashed him.

Due to the way he struck, there was now an opening straight at Tobias, and Dragon took advantage of it, sticking his leg out and booting him straight in his chest, sending Tobias flailing backwards and landing hard on his back several feet away with a painful grunt.

Monkey D. Dragon looked to see both Robin and Nami opening a latch door in the floorboards of the abandoned building and quickly hopping into it, closing the door securely behind them. With his assurances that they were safe, Dragon casually walked over towards the recovering Tobias who gripped his chest in pain.

Tobias was about to strike the offending revolutionary, but a sudden powerful burst of wind along with the cackling of thunder and bolt of lightning flying down not so far away stopped him. He looked up at the sky and saw a swirling mass of clouds forming in the sky headed straight for them, bringing thunder, lightning, hail, and wind.

"What is that?" he asked with a disbelieving tone.

Dragon looked up as the approaching figure drew closer and said, "_That_ is what we call a hurricane, and it happens to be the strongest attack of the Storm-Storm Fruit. While its power is unmatched, it takes quite a while to create and unleash, though…"

"You!" shouted Tobias, raising his arm up to strike.

Dragon raised his index finger up and brought it in a wagging motion, leaping back as the daibutsu's palm collided with the ground where he used to stand. "Nuh-uh," he said tauntingly.

The hurricane drew closer.

Trees and pieces of stone began to fly up towards the massive hurricane looming overhead as Dragon let out a roaring laugh and outstretching his arm. "Now I guess we'll really see who's stronger! The Dreams of the Corps of Kings, or the Storms of the Revolution!"

_"THIS IS NOTHING!"_ shouted Tobias, bringing his daibutsu into a defensive position and using it as protection.

_(the winds only got fiercer)_

_"I CAN BEAT THIS EASILY!"_ he continued.

_(the thunder grew louder)_

_"THIS IS NOTHING FOR TOBIAS THE DREAMER! I AM THE RIGHT ARM OF VICTOR, THE MAN WHO WILL DESTROY THIS CORRUPT WORLD AND BRING ABOUT A NEW ERA OF PEACE!"_

_(the lightning struck nearer)_

The hurricane came with all the remaining power of Revolutionary Monkey D. Dragon, as he simply stood back and laughed, not at all affected by his own power. Tobias stood his ground and watched as miniature tornadoes were created that ripped trees from their roots and lightning brought upon new fires to the greenery.

It was all over almost instantly…

_(and then?)_

All that remained was barren earth. After the hurricane Dragon created passed over the battlefield, it dissipated almost instantly, leaving no lasting harm anywhere else. However, all of the trees in the forest were gone, and all of the remains of the Ancient Kingdom village was obliterated.

The latch on the basement level of what used to be a building opened, revealing the peeking heads of Nami and Robin looking at the aftermath. There, they saw Monkey D. Dragon standing alone in a barren field, looking up at the now calm full moon. No more wind was howling, and no more clouds darkened the sky, but simply the clean night air covered them, giving everyone a sense of relief.

The two Straw Hat crewmembers got out of their protection and ran straight over to the revolutionary. Nami immediately asked, "What happened?"

Dragon didn't bother looking at either of them but simply pointed up, saying, "He's up there right now…"

"You mean the sky?" inquired Robin, looking up as well.

Dragon nodded.

"The hurricane sent him flying into the air?" asked Nami.

"Pretty high, from the looks of it…"

After a few more seconds of silence, they could all see a blackened figure falling from the sky, illuminated by the moon. "At that height, he's gonna…" gasped Nami.

"Robin…" was all Dragon said.

The archaeologist nodded. "On it."

When Tobias was close enough in the sky to get towards them, Dragon moved both his arms in an upwards arc, sending a burst of wind flying towards him, slowly lowering his fall. Using the precision of a surgeon, Dragon moved his arms down slowly, so as to bring Tobias down slowly as well.

"Cien Fleur: Delphinium…"

Robin summoned a hundred arms on the ground right where Tobias was landing. When he was close enough to the surface, Dragon dropped the Dreamer right onto the arms, catching him safely and subsequently preventing his death.

Tobias was barely conscious at this point and was breathing very irregularly. Blood covered his face as several wounds bled profusely. Yet despite all this, he looked up at Dragon with a burning intensity and simply asked: "Why?"

"It's a shame to waste such potential," replied Dragon slowly. "You have good intentions, but even you must see that the route you're taking is not what the peaceful monks at Flare Monastery would have wanted…especially Baizor."

Tobias groaned at the mention of his old Abbot's name and turned his head to the side so to look away from the three. "Maybe…but it's too late now…"

Dragon shook his head. "It's never too late. After all, the battle is truly won when you've changed everyone's hearts and minds."

Tobias didn't respond, but simply closed his eyes as Robin slowly lowered him to the ground with her arms. After several seconds, Dragon began to walk past him, not even bothering to look at him.

"Come on you two," he ordered. "There's more to be done."

"Like what?" asked Nami, jogging to catch up with the revolutionary.

Dragon smirked and looked at Robin and said, "Well I need your help to find the Rio Poneglyph so Miss Robin here can translate it for us."

"That reminds me…" Robin said slowly, walking at an even pace with the other two. "You destroyed a countless number of artifacts Dragon, and you seem okay with that. You can't change history, so now they're gone forever! How dare you do such a thing?"

Dragon shrugged casually and said, "If I didn't, we'd all be dead by now…"

Nami couldn't help but laugh and tauntingly say, "He got you there, Robin!"

Robin didn't answer.

As all three of them walked away from Tobias the Dreamer, he looked up towards the full moon hanging in the night sky and thought one final thing before passing out.

_"Victor…"_

* * *

His words as a final testament to his unrelenting loyalty.

**Behind the Character (15): Tobias**

Needing a foil to Victor's somewhat eccentric attitude (at least when around other people), I created Tobias out of pure necessity. After all, what self-respecting villain is without a number two henchman always with him and carrying out his orders? Personally, I thought it fit, and the Tobias that you've seen is the result of the twos contrasting nature.

Design-wise, he is a bit of a mix between Anji from Nobuhiro Watsuki's _Rurouni Kenshin_, and Hokushin from Yoshihiro Togashi's _YuYu Hakusho_. I think in the terms of actual looks, he resembles Hokushin more, but in terms of clothing he resembles Anji.

Personality-wise, as I stated earlier, he was created mainly to be a foil to Victor's strange personality. The obvious opposite of that was to make him constantly calm, cool, and collected. Thought of as stoic, I made him unwavering in his beliefs and willingness to always follow orders, no matter what they were. In turn, I think that makes him a better right-hand man.

In terms of backstory, I took the inspiration from Anji's backstory in _Rurouni Kenshin_, mostly pertaining to him being a former monk with a tragic past, but I think it really came out well especially due to the pathos it gave between him and Dragon in their fight afterwards, really causing Tobias to question what he believes.

As for his Devil Fruit, I'm a bit surprised this one wasn't as popular as I had imagined. Like the Mind-Mind Fruit, I conceived the idea on my own, but unlike it, while checking on several forums for ideas to see what other people thought, the Dream-Dream Fruit didn't come up that much. Probably because it's an overpowered fruit, I'd imagine. I dealt with that by putting its crippling limitations of not being able to dream up real people and taking a massive toll on the user. Other than that, I liked the fruit, letting me come up with some cool ideas (although I'd imagine they paled in comparison to what you thought I might do with it…)

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	124. Ride to the Lightning Border

Back on the _Red Force_. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions

* * *

**124: Ride to the Lightning Border**

Benn Beckman was the first to greet them when they boarded the _Red Force_. Smoking a cigarette, he shouldered his trademark rifle and walked up to Mihawk and Marco and said casually, "It's about time you guys decided to show up."

Mihawk ignored the first mate immediately, dismissing him with a grunt and walking away from the entire group. Marco was a bit more friendly, scratching the back of his head and saying, "Yeah, sorry 'bout our late arrival, but we got into a few fights and only just now managed to get everyone together."

Zoro, Sanji, Brook, Chopper, Franky, Usopp, Hancock, and Splint stepped aboard the ship and gazed at it with wonder. Usopp looked and said breathlessly, "So this is really Shanks's ship…"

Beckman looked at Usopp and said almost immediately, "Hey, you're Yasopp's kid, ain'tcha?"

"Huh? Oh…yeah, I am."

Beckman grinned widely and looked behind himself, yelling, "Hey, Yasopp, get over here. We got a surprise for ya!"

The marksman for the Red-Haired Pirates kicked a door inside the ship open and stepped out on the deck, muttering something about calling for him so loudly. All that anger was dropped immediately, however, when he saw his own son standing across from him.

For both pirates, they stood for the longest time, not saying anything, but simply staring at each other, disbelief washing over both of them. Finally, Usopp managed to utter, "I-It's really you…Dad, you're really here…"

"That's right, son!" said Yasopp immediately, snapping out of his daze and putting on a large grin. With that, he immediately rushed over to Usopp and threw his arm around him, tears flowing from his eyes as he said happily, "I always knew I'd see you on the high seas someday…I just hope you understood why I left you and your mother for the sea."

Usopp let out a small sob and nodded, saying, "I did understand, Dad! You're a great warrior of the sea, and I've always wanted to be like you when I was smaller!"

"Well from what I hear," said Yasopp, releasing his grip upon his son and patting him on the shoulder, "you've made quite a name for yourself…Sogeking."

He held up a bounty poster for Sogeking and let out a snicker. Usopp was taken slightly aback saying, "How did you know it was me?"

"Oh, come on son!" responded Yasopp immediately, looking at the picture. "Any halfwit could tell that's you. But that bounty's quite impressive. I see you've taken after your old man when it came to shooting prowess!"

Usopp looked embarrassed and said, "I just wanted to become a brave warrior of the sea…"

Yasopp hugged his son yet again, saying proudly, "You already have, Usopp!"

Zoro and Sanji grinned at this moment as Chopper was crying profusely at this scene, proclaiming loudly, "This is such a great scene! I'm so happy for you, Usopp!"

Splint let out a sniff and wiped his eyes, saying, "Aye, I'm a softie when it comes to tender moments like this…"

Any further conversation was cut off when none other than Red-Haired Shanks stepped onto the deck, everyone immediately recognizing his presence and looking in his direction.

The Yonko smiled at the Straw Hat Crew and walked towards them, recognizing Usopp and Yasopp together immediately. With a wide smile, he asked his marksman, "So you're finally reunited with your son after all these years, eh, Yasopp? I'm happy for you and hate to cut the reunion short, but we have work to do."

Yasopp nodded, saying, "Aye-Aye Captain!"

Shanks turned towards the rest of the Straw Hat Crew and said, "I'm happy to have you all aboard. Now with your permission, I'd like to set sail for Raftel."

"Why didn't you set sail earlier to help Luffy out?" asked Hancock immediately, suspicious and slightly-angry at the same time.

Shanks didn't seem intimidated by the ex-Shichibukai's words, simply remarking, "This is Luffy's fight, and if I got involved directly, he would never forgive me."

"So you're just going to drop us off at Raftel and not help out?" questioned Zoro.

Shanks nodded. "You're his crew, and should lend a hand where you see fit, but I promised to see Luffy only when he became a great pirate, and right now, he's vying for the title of King of the Pirates. So if I show myself before he wins, I'll be breaking our promise."

Sanji lit a cigarette, saying, "Quite a bond you two got…"

"Indeed," agreed Shanks before turning around and yelling to his crew: "Let's get that anchor up and set sail! Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time!"

His crew let out a ripping roar as Yasopp went to go help out, Usopp eagerly following to lend a hand. Shanks turned to the remaining Straw Hats and said, "Make yourselves comfortable for now, but be ready for a bumpy ride in a bit."

"Bumpy ride?" asked Franky with a raised eyebrow. "What should we be expecting?"

Shanks kept his grin and said loudly, "Nothing except an entire field of maelstroms. Like I said, make yourselves comfortable, but it might help if you strapped yourselves in as well!"

With that, the _Red Force_ set sail.

— — —

On the island of Raftel, Victor D. Capere scrambled through the encroaching vegetation growing upon what used to be a street in the Ancient Kingdom. Breathlessly, he looked around and saw no reassuring signs of where he was. Stopping for a second, he reassessed his situation by taking a quick stock of his surroundings yet again.

"I know One Piece is hidden under the Monarch's Castle of the Ancient Kingdom, but I'd be damned if I could remember where that is…" he lamented. "Just what the hell is wrong with me?"

He scratched his head as some less than savory

_(will of D.)_

ideas entered his head. Immediately shaking them off, the skeptical Victor said to himself in an attempt to calm down, "No, don't be stupid. I've had this planned carefully for years and remember exactly which path to take. I just got a bit off-track and should be able to—"

Then, without warning, Victor heard something crack to his side. He immediately stopped speaking and turned his head, a strange type of eerie fear creeping into his body. He gazed deep into the dark growth of trees and vegetation on his side and saw nothing. After a few seconds of holding his breath, Victor exhaled again, muttering something to himself and slowly walking away.

That was a mistake…

Within a few seconds, he heard a frenzied sound of crackling and animals shrieking to his side again. Immediately turning to look, he saw none other than the handcuffed Yonko Big Mom come crashing through the underbrush, a look of vengeance on her face.

"Oh, shi—" started Victor.

He was drowned out by Big Mom's animal cry as she launched her knee straight into Victor's chest, winding him and sending him flying backwards against a tree with a crash. Letting out a small grunt, Victor almost dropped to the ground.

Before he could touch the floor completely, however, Big Mom continued her assault, sprinting towards Victor and launching a kick straight to the side of his face, dropping him to the floor almost immediately. Before he could get up, Big Mom stomped straight on Victor's chest three times before he was finally able to grab her oncoming foot with his hand and block the attack.

Big Mom drew back for now, panting heavily, allowing Victor to stagger to his feet in pain, gripping his chest while coughing up a good amount of blood. He looked at Big Mom with a flash of anger, before it subsided and the usual tone he addressed her with came back (albeit with a bit more anger in it this time).

"Leila, how nice of you to drop by, and here I thought I'd killed you…"

"Shut up!" Big Mom angrily barked. "I'm here to stop you before you reach One Piece and combine all of your powers together to make one powerful engine of destruction!"

Victor noticed that Big Mom still had her hands handcuffed in seastone behind her back, and remarked, "And you intend to stop me with no access to your Devil Fruit powers?"

Big Mom glared daggers at Victor, saying, "It's been working so far!"

Victor felt a surge of power flow over him as surprise overtook his face for a brief second. After his usual calm attitude returned, he said, "Ah, so you used Haki to bypass my Logia intangibility; otherwise you never would have touched me to begin with. Yet to emit such a powerful Haki while being bound with seastone is quite an accomplishment. Truly you're more skilled at Haki than I shall ever be…"

Big Mom didn't grace him with an answer, only rushed towards Victor again, preparing to unleash a new wave of Haki. Before she could, however, Victor disappeared and reappeared at her side, the remaining light particles forming around him.

"You took me by surprise once, Leila, but not again," he grinned. "Now we play _my_ game. And since you're holding me up from getting to One Piece, the game will have to end quickly!"

He immediately shot his hand in front of him and aimed it at Big Mom, saying, "10 Million Volt Vari!"

A condensed bolt of lightning shot out of his hand and flew towards Big Mom. The Yonko, however, was more than prepared and was able to sidestep it just in the nick of time, letting the bolt hit a tree in the distance, the light piercing the night sky for only a second before fading away.

Big Mom went on the offensive, shooting a burst of Haki towards Victor and rushing towards him, throwing a kick up to the side of his head. Victor was able to raised his arm up to block the attack, however, creating a standoff between the two, neither one giving an inch.

Strain showed on Victor's face as he said, "You know, Leila, it's pretty foolish to think I'm powerless without my Devil Fruit powers. In a fair right, I can still easily take you!"

"Oh yeah?" asked a grinning Big Mom, applying more pressure to her blocked leg. "Then how about this?"

With that power surge, Victor's blocking arm gave in as he was struck right in the side of his head, sending him to the ground yet again. He rose up almost immediately, seeing the fatigue on Big Mom's face. Once again, he grinned wolfishly.

"Yet the seastone tires you out more than necessary, doesn't it?" he asked tauntingly. "I don't have time for this anymore, Leila. Let's wrap it up."

He didn't wait for a response as he shot a powerful beam of light from his finger right at Big Mom. The power of the beam travelled quickly, piercing Big Mom's shoulder and causing her to let a roar of pain rip from her throat. As soon as that attack was finished, Victor was in front of Big Mom, his fist turning into lava.

"Hell Hound!"

He lashed straight at Big Mom's chest with his magma-fist, easily piercing her flesh and causing her to scream in pain. He immediately pulled his fist out and placed his free hand not an inch away from her chest. With a grimace, he said, "El Thor!"

A bolt of lightning shot from his hand and sent a powerful electric shock through the Yonko, the force of which sent her flying back into the darkness. As soon as she fell, Victor panted with relief, not wanting to go near the dangerous woman again.

Then, realization hit him as he said happily to the fallen Yonko, "Thanks for that, Leila! Because of that fight I wasn't so focused on where I was, and now I suddenly remember where to find One Piece. I don't have time to play with you anymore, so enjoy dying slowly!"

With that, he took off in the opposite direction, while Big Mom uttered a small gasp and looked up at the night sky with anger burning in her eyes.

— — —

Monkey D. Luffy was still running through Raftel on instinct.

He found that it was working pretty well, as he hadn't run across the same landmark twice, but he still had no idea if he was any closer to Victor or One Piece. Despite those thoughts, he kept on running, regardless of where it took him, as he constantly looked to his sides to look for anything that might give him a clue as to where he was.

"Damn!" he panted while running. "I never knew directions could be so difficult…Now I know how Nami must feel…"

Not a few seconds later did he trip over something.

At the speed he was going, his momentum stopped immediately, sending him crashing onto the floor with a grunt. He immediately turned around to see the object he tripped on, saying, "Hey! Watch it, I could have gotten injured pretty badly if I wasn't made of rubber, ya know!"

He immediately stopped talking, however, when he realized he tripped over a person, and not just any person. He tripped over Big Mom. Seeing her bloodied and wheezing on her back, fighting to stay conscious, Luffy slowly walked towards her, saying, "Lola's mom…"

Big Mom looked to her side to see Luffy there and managed a bloody smile, saying, "Hey there, Straw Hat. What incredible timing you have; it's only been a few minutes since I've been lying here…"

Luffy already knew who injured Big Mom to an extent, and knew that any other conversation regarding her well-being would be pointless. He simply grabbed her by the shoulders when she was struggling to get up, and gently rested her back against the nearest tree.

He began to walk away and simply asked, "How do I get there?"

Big Mom smirked and said, "Just follow your instincts. That's what Roger always used to do…"

"I'll be sure to kick his ass twice as hard just for you."

With that, Luffy took off, leaving the injured Big Mom, who rested her head against the tree trunk and looked up at the moon yet again, feeling her consciousness fading. After a few more seconds, she groggily said:

"I know you can do it, kid…my daughter didn't give ya my Vivre Card for nothin'!"

* * *

Back to the chase!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	125. The Search Party

To the Revolutionary, the Navigator, and the Archaeologist. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions. Once again, the poem belongs to T.S. Eliot's poem "The Wasteland." I take no claim nor credit for it.

* * *

**125: The Search Party**

They didn't travel for very long before taking a break underneath a small outcropping of trees.

Monkey D. Dragon rested his back against a splintering tree trunk, Nami plopped down underneath the shade of a tree, while Nico Robin just stood where she was, content. After a few seconds of silence, Dragon spoke up.

"So, Nico Robin, where does your archaeological expertise dictate we should go?"

Robin didn't speak for a few seconds, then finally said: "The palace is probably the best place to start, but I can't say for sure."

Dragon closed his eyes. "I see…"

Nami alternated looks between the two before saying, "Wait, I know you guys wanna find the Rio Poneglyph on this island and all, but right now Luffy is probably running through the woods or fighting Victor."

"And?" asked Dragon, raising a curious eyebrow while crossing his arms.

Nami was taken aback slightly, before reiterating what she thought was obvious. "_And_ your son could be getting killed as we speak, so as his friends and crewmates, we have to go and help him."

"My son won't die," stated Dragon rather quickly. "I have faith in him. Besides, finding the Rio Poneglyph is the most important thing right now."

Nami looked at Robin in attempt for support, but saw her only staring at the ground silently, as if in deep thought. Slightly outraged, Nami stood up and said, "Why now? We can find the Rio Poneglyph _after_ we help Luffy!"

Dragon shook his head firmly. "The sooner this ends, the better. Luffy can take care of himself; I think you just underestimate your captain."

"So this information is more important than your son's life then?" asked Nami.

Dragon didn't respond.

Nami gripped her Perfect Clima-Tact and turned around quickly, saying, "Fine. You guys go and look for your stupid history. I'm gonna go and help Luffy!"

With that, she walked away from the archaeologist and revolutionary, entering the forested area around them. Robin closed her eyes and said reassuringly, "She's gifted with a sense of direction. She'll be fine on her own."

"I'm surprised you weren't right behind her," replied Dragon, a slow smirk appearing on his face. "He's your captain too, isn't he?"

Robin nodded. "And I would do anything for him normally, but even I know what's at stake right now. With the information of the Void Century finally complete, the World Government will be dismantled, and everyone

_(Ohara)_

who's suffered from their tyranny will be free."

Dragon kept his smirk as he removed himself from the tree trunk. "Well spoken. Fortunately, I've got a great plan that will be put into motion as soon as we find out what we need to know."

"Is that so?"

"Speaking of which…" Dragon said, rummaging through his pocket and pulling out a den-den mushi, "might as well check their progress. Ivankov, Inazuma, you guys read me?"

The den-den mushi buzzed before Robin heard Ivankov's voice. "Hee-haw! Ve read ya loud and clear Dragon! Vhat's happening?"

"I'm wondering what your ETA is to Island #37," replied Dragon in a calm voice.

"_Bzzt_—It shouldn't be too long! Ve're making good time, isn't that right Inazuma?"

No answer from Inazuma.

"Vell, anyvays, we'll get there in time, don't vorry!"

"Roger that," Dragon said. "I'll let you know when we're clear. Dragon over and out."

He put the den-den mushi away as Robin raised her eyebrow at the revolutionary. "Island #37, eh? You mean one of the fifty secret World Government outposts all around the world, don't you?"

"The same."

Robin grinned, saying, "Refresh my memory if I'm wrong, but that particular island serves as the communication center of the World Government and the entire world, correct?"

Dragon nodded stoically.

"And it would be quite a shame if someone was to get onto the machine that would allow the person to speak freely to every island under the World Government's control, wouldn't it? If I were a revolutionary, I'd—"

"Enough chatter," commanded Dragon. "The faster we locate the Rio Poneglyph, the better. So let's start moving!"

"Okay, okay," said Robin calmly, pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket. "Now let me read this poem again and see if I've got all the information down."

"Fine," grumbled Dragon.

Robin took a deep breath, and read:

"Son of man,  
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only  
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,  
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,  
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only  
There is no shadow under this red rock,  
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),  
And I will show you something different from either  
Your shadow at the morning striding behind you  
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;  
I will show you fear in a handful of dust."

Dragon began to walk away from the shelter of the trees as Robin quickly followed. After a few seconds, the revolutionary said, "That's right. So after reading all of the Poneglyphs, you still think it's at the palace?"

Robin shook her head, saying, "Not at the palace, but more around the vicinity of the palace. If memory serves me correctly, a once-favorite spot for the Romanov kids to play around was a large dead tree stump near the palace."

"One that would give no shelter, correct?" asked Dragon.

Robin nodded. "The poem was originally made for the Romanov bloodline and most likely chronicles their rise to kingship. If I were to make an educated guess, I'd say the dead tree was a place of major significance in their ascension to power."

"So it only makes sense they'd build their palace around there, then," said the revolutionary, understanding.

They both stopped at the same time, and Robin looked around and only saw the tree-line surrounding them. "Now the question is," she started, "assuming the palace is still intact, where would it be?"

Dragon shrugged. "You're the historian. You tell me."

"I'd imagine it's the middle of the island, but I can't say for sure…" said Robin more to herself than to Dragon. "We're just gonna have to roam around and see if we can find any landmarks I might recognize."

The revolutionary sighed. "I wish we had the navigator girl with us right about now…"

— — —

"Stop!" commanded Robin to Dragon.

Dragon did as he was told, looking back at the Straw Hat and saying, "We've only been walking for twenty minutes and you're already tired? I thought you had more in you than that…"

The pair had just exited through the forest and came out to see a few scraggly mountains in the distance, but not much else in terms of land aside from a large amount of rocks decorating the dirt floor.

"No, you idiot," Robin berated rather quickly. "Look where you're about to step."

Dragon looked down and saw what he had been seeing for a while now. Just more dirt and earth. "It's just the ground. I don't think I'm going to step on a sacred artifact or anything."

Robin quickly trotted over to Dragon and stopped right in front of him. She spread her arms and said, "Just look at why this area is different from the rest."

Dragon did, and soon saw it. There was a particular path that was lowered slightly to form the slightest of ditches, and in that ditch there was the same dried up earth as everywhere else, but the one thing that separated it from the ground was the fact that there were no rocks on this path.

The revolutionary smirked and said, "It almost looks like a dried riverbed to me."

"And the dry stone no sound of water," said Robin with a grin. "This is what used to be a great river. So powerful that drying up _before_ the Romanovs and it still leaves an indent on the earth, however small. We follow this path and I'm willing to bet we'll get somewhere fast."

Dragon nodded, stepping onto the small path. "Then let's go."

The revolutionary began walking in the direction opposite of where Robin intended to go. She said rather quickly, "How do you know that ways the right way?"

Dragon continued walking, but shrugged and called back, "I don't know. It just felt right, that's all."

"The Will of D?" Robin said so quiet Dragon didn't hear her.

She quickly followed him.

— — —

"The sun's not out," observed Dragon, looking at the full moon after they had been walking on the dried riverbed for some time.

Robin nodded, adding, "So?"

"So you think we'll find it if the sun's not out?" he asked. " 'A heap of broken images, where the _sun_ beats,' and all that good stuff."

Robin looked at the moon and said, "It's probably just referring to the reflection of the sun. Luckily it's a full moon, so the moonlight should be more than enough to light up anything we might need to see."

They continued on in silence.

— — —

Dragon knelt down and inspected the rather large tree trunk for quite a while. He ran his hand over it a few times and then remarked to Robin, "Well we finally found it, but we don't know what to do from here."

"It's farther from the palace than I thought, as well," said Robin, looking in the distance only to see a silhouette of a rather large (yet still dilapidated) building. "This is definitely the 'dead tree,' though."

After a few more seconds, Dragon felt something on his hand. He called over to Robin and showed him what he discovered. On the side of the dead tree trunk, were several symbols very similar-looking to what's on the Poneglyphs. Robin looked at it and smiled.

"What's it say?" asked the revolutionary.

Robin ran her hand over it once before reciting: "Here lies the exact spot where Marius D. Romanov sliced his enemy, Ganmore the Wild, in half with his powerful broadsword. The attack was so mighty it cleaved Ganmore cleanly and took chopped down the mighty Adam Tree that once stood here. After his victory, Marius proclaimed the Romanov's to be the new leaders of the Kingdom and took his proper place on the throne."

"Must've been quite powerful to slice an Adam Tree in half," commented Dragon off-handedly. "But at least now we know the significance of the tree."

"Indeed," replied Robin. She looked around and saw nothing but barren waste all around them. "In a place where the cricket gives no relief, an Adam Tree stood. But what about the red rock? Maybe it refers to a rock that was reddened with Ganmore's blood after Marius killed him…but then what about no shadow?"

While Robin talked to herself, Dragon inspected the large tree trunk more, moving all around it. It was strange to him. He could not see any visible roots poking out of the ground, and Dragon was sure that if this tree could survive for over 800 years, he'd see roots.

Going off of pure instinct, Dragon knelt down and put his hands towards the bottom of the trunk. With a small grunt, he pushed sideways, and he was quite surprised to see the trunk moved towards the side with him.

"Robin!" he called quickly. "Get over here!"

Nico Robin moved quickly and saw what Dragon had done. The tree trunk was moved slightly ajar, and inside she could see the edge of a darkened hole. A grin grew on her face as she said, "Where there is no shadow under this red rock…Push it more, Dragon. I think we just found what we needed!"

Monkey D. Dragon nodded enthusiastically as Robin summoned a few arms to help him. After two attempts, they were finally able to push the Adam Trunk aside and reveal a dark hole that was once covered. Both of them looked down it and saw darkness, but the light of the moon helped show them a ladder going down the side.

They both looked at each other as Dragon shrugged, moving towards it saying, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Robin quickly followed suit, and before the two knew it, the two were inside. Surprisingly to them, the moonlight travelled down into the room and bounced off of its naturally reflective floor and walls, lighting up the entire room. There, right in the middle of this secret room, they found it.

It was a rather large red Poneglyph. It was different from the others by the fact that it wasn't cut to resemble a type of obelisk, but seemed to remain in its purest form. It was shaped like a large irregular rock, and that was probably all the time the citizens of the Ancient Kingdom had before scribbling their last message on it.

Right at the foot of the Poneglyph, the figure of a skeleton caught their eye. Both reacted in shock to it before slowly walking over to it, both of them muttering:

"And I will show you something different from either  
Your shadow at morning striding behind you  
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;  
I will show you fear in a handful of dust..."

"Who do you suppose he is?" Dragon asked, motioning to the skeleton.

Robin shrugged. "I have no idea, though he must've been someone important to know about this place."

"It doesn't really matter," said the revolutionary. "All that matters now is what's on the Rio Poneglyph."

"Rio Poneglyph," Robin muttered, moving closer to it, while running her hand over it experimentally. "Brilliant," she commented. "Hiding it here, where only those who knew of this poem would think to look. I think we've just fulfilled the real purpose of the Will of D…"

"You never know," commented Dragon.

Robin ignored him and continued to stare at the Rio Poneglyph majestically.

"Can you read it?"

"Yes…"

Dragon grinned widely. "Then read it aloud. Tell me everything that happened to make the World Government want to cover up and deny the Ancient Kingdom's existence. Finish the story…"

Robin looked at where to start. When she found the proper place, she took a somewhat shaky breath.

She then began to read from it.

* * *

Filling in the final slot to that lost era.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	126. Filling the Void 4: End of Days

The final secret to the Void Century. Just what happened? Enjoy!

**Sorry I haven't updated for around two weeks. For some reason, the website wouldn't let me upload this chapter until now.**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions. The poem belongs to T.S. Eliot's poem "The Wasteland." I take no claim or credit for it.

* * *

**126: Filling the Void 4- End of Days**

_The Ancient Kingdom  
822 years ago/700 AOS  
100 years into the Void Century_

_"Excellent," King Morgan D. Romanov said to some of his soldiers as they stepped inside of his palace with what he was expecting. "Now all we need to do is get them loaded on the ship, and we'll be able put the plan into action!"_

_King Morgan turned to his wife and two three young sons who had just entered the throne room with the grin still on his face. "Ah, Marian and Michael and Malcolm and Mannix, how nice to see you right before I leave!"_

_Morgan's wife Marian looked at him with confusion, asking, "Leave? Where exactly are you going?"_

_Morgan's advisor stepped to his side and whispered something furtively in his ear. Morgan nodded as he left and walked towards his family. "I'm going to visit every island under the jurisdiction of the Ancient Kingdom," Morgan answered, grinning at his wife while ruffling Malcolm's hair. "Don't worry, though, I'll be back as soon as I've visited them all."_

_"Visiting all of the islands under the Ancient Kingdom's jurisdiction?" questioned Marian. "Why, whatever for?"_

_Just then, some more men came in carrying large brown sacks that were slung over their shoulder. "Here's the final shipment, my lord."_

_"Good," replied Morgan quickly. "Just put it by the rest of them."_

_The men nodded as they dropped the sacks towards a mountain-load of sacks just like it. Marian D. Romanov, confused, walked over to the closest one and opened it up. Her eyes widened at the sight of it, as she scooped her hand in and pulled out all manners of sparkling gold jewelry and coins._

_"What's this?" she asked. "You're going to all the islands carrying the ships weight in gold? What for?"_

_"Isn't it obvious?" said Morgan with a smile still on his face, stepping towards the large quantities of gold. "I'm going to deliver all of this money to the people in an attempt to relieve them of their large amount of debt brought on by the war."_

_Surprised, Marian took a step back, putting her hand to her chest by instinct. "Are you mad? We're already pinched for cash as it is, and you want to give away _that_ much in gold? The Ancient Kingdom will have nothing left!"_

_"And then we might be able to feel some of the pain the other islands are going through right now," replied Morgan. He looked back at the vast wealth behind him and said, "The least we could do is pay them for all the trouble we've caused."_

_"But what about us?" Marian persisted. "The Ancient Kingdom will lose all its finances, and then the entire war!"_

_Morgan shrugged. "Maybe, but I don't think so. With all of this money delivered, we might not be as well off, sure, but think of all the support we'll get! For years, the islands taken over by us have been mutinous and looking at us with angered glares. If we show them that we're just like them—that we can suffer like them—and even help them out of this recession, and after talking to the Alliance about it, this very well may lead to instantaneous peace."_

_Morgan snapped his fingers._

_"It's a risk…" said Marian, looking down at her feet and holding her three children close._

_"Aye, I know it is," Morgan said, embracing his wife in a hug. "But this has to end, and I intend to end it now. It will work, trust me."_

_Marian buried her face in his shoulder and said, "Alright, I'll trust you. You are king, after all."_

_Morgan grinned at his wife one last time before releasing her and his children. He stepped back and said, "Now I've put this off long enough, I'm afraid. We have to be getting all of this gold onto the ships before the emissary from the Alliance arrives."_

_"Emissary?" asked Marian angrily, gritting her teeth. "An emissary from the Alliance hasn't been here since this war started 103 years ago with Marin!"_

_Morgan heaved a sack of gold onto his back while several soldiers did the same. "All the more reason to try and make peace now. I'm giving them an offer I don't think they'll refuse. I'll be back soon, I promise. I love you all."_

_With that, Morgan left the palace._

— — —

_Stepping onto the same docks that Marin D. Romanov did 103 years ago with an Alliance emissary named Caire, Morgan D. Romanov felt much better than Marin had when he ordered that fateful order to shoot down the emissary's ship, sparking an all-out war._

_Looking at the ten galleons lined up in a neat row on the dock as the soldiers were methodically loading all of the gold onto them filled Morgan with pride. He was doing something no other king of the Ancient Kingdom had done since this war._

_He was actively trying to make peace._

_He looked up and saw the large and fiery sun overheard on the cloudless blue day. After a few seconds, he looked down to see a small ship coming towards the dock. Morgan turned towards his advisor and said, "I think our emissary's here."_

_The advisor nodded, yet said nothing._

_It didn't take long for the Alliance emissary to step onto the docks of the Ancient Kingdom and stroll towards Morgan with a grin on his face, extending his hand out as the king grasped it. "King Romanov, it truly is an honor to shake your hand."_

_"Likewise," said Morgan. "Before we start talking, I'd like to suggest that we not mention anything that has happened between our nations in the past; I'm looking towards the future. Agreed, Mr.…?"_

_"Larson," the emissary named Larson responded, "and I agree."_

_"Then let us talk."_

_They began to stroll away from the docks slightly as Larson said to the king, "I must admit, the Alliance has shown great hesitance in sending me here. They feel that there is too much bad blood between us, but after hearing that you were so insistent to talk about peace, they eventually changed their tune."_

_"Is that so?" said Morgan idly, looking back up towards the sky. "I didn't want you to come here so we can talk about trivial things like that. I came to talk to you about the future of our nations. I have a proposal for you and the Alliance as a whole."_

_They both stopped as Larson nodded and said, "Well on behalf of the Alliance, I shall be happy to hear it."_

_Morgan jerked a thumb back towards the galleons being loaded. "You see that?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Getting loaded onto those ships is nearly a ton of gold," said Morgan very seriously. Immediately, he could see Larson's eyes widen. "We intend to deliver that to every island we have taken over over the course of this war. It may very well bankrupt us, but then we'd all be on an even keel."_

_"What do you hope to accomplish with such a task?" asked the incredulous Larson._

_"Trust," replied Morgan very quickly. "With this one act of kindness, the people will see that the Ancient Kingdom really does care about their well-being. And I might add that we could use that newfound trust to our advantage in terms of the war."_

_Larson scowled and said, "If you're threatening the Alliance in any way, I assure you we'll—"_

_"I don't intend to use it in such a way, however," cut off Morgan, surprising Larson. "No, I have brought you here to let the Alliance become privy to my plan, and respectfully asked if you would like to join us in our venture."_

_Larson took a step back, saying, "What?"_

_"I'm asking for an alliance between us," reiterated Morgan. "This fighting has gone on for far too long, and I think it should stop. Why can't we be content with having two superpowers in this world instead of one? In joining us in this act of kindness, we will make a pact of friendship as well as show the other nations in the world that we care, ending the war in the blink of an eye. Instantaneous peace, you might say."_

_Larson was silent for a long time, simply looking up at the sky as well. After several more seconds, as if he timed it, he looked up and said, "That's quite an interesting proposition milord. No doubt it would restore the trust in people and end the Great War. You're quite a leader, if I may say so myself."_

_"Thank you."_

_"Unfortunately, the Alliance isn't interested in having _two_ superpowers in the world; it wants to be the only dominant power in this world!"_

_"What?"_

_The ring of a cannon shot out, and a building very close to Morgan and Larson exploded and collapsed immediately, stirring up chaos in the area. Morgan stared at the action for several seconds, shocked, before turning towards the ocean to see what he had feared most._

_The Alliance's entire marine force was coming towards them in over more than 200 ships, each one of them firing cannons towards the dock. Turning towards Larson, he opened his mouth to speak as some soldiers fired cannons desperately back on the dock, but the emissary cut him off before he could say anything._

_"It's been no secret that you've been losing all of your military might and can barely fight any longer," he said with a massive grin on his face. "Why settle for an alliance when we could just crush you and take over ourselves."_

_"But the citizens…" Morgan said in an almost disbelieving voice._

_Larson let out a thick guttural laugh before saying, "Let me letcha in on a little secret about the Alliance's policy, milord. The weaker the surrounding nations are, the easier they are to conquer. Your little plan here would reverse all of that, and we can't let that happen; good thing we set up this ambush in advanced."_

_"You son of a—" started Morgan, but stopped when a gunshot cried out._

_Looking down while shaking immensely, Morgan saw blood began to pool around his stomach. He looked back up to the grinning Larson who now had a gun in his hand. Not able to speak, the king dropped to his knees and then fell on the ground as Larson began to step away, letting out a large and uncontrollable laugh._

_"Sorry, Morgan D. Romanov," he said while walking away, "but the Ancient Kingdom is now history! However, we'll have to make a slight adjustment to our plans and factor in stealing all of your ships filled with gold. It never hurts to have more money, right?"_

_Morgan didn't speak as Larson moved away, more cannonballs flying into the city and hitting the surrounding buildings. After several seconds, King Morgan stood up, clutching his wound in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding. After several shaky seconds, he began to stagger back in the direction opposite of the docks._

_"Gotta get back…to the palace…" he said with blood flowing out of his mouth with every word. "Have to…preserve our memory for the future…"_

— — —

_"Milord, are you alright?"_

_"Morgan, what happened?"_

_"Daddy!"_

_Marian, Michael, Malcolm, Mannix, and Morgan's general Ajax all rushed towards the king as he threw the doors open and walked inside, blood still dripping from his stomach. They all immediately rushed around him and helped him keep his wobbly stance. Morgan looked at all of them with painful eyes before finally speaking._

_"There's not much time. Ajax, get in contact with the Lieutenants and tell them that the Alliance is attacking the country."_

_"Roger, milord," Ajax said proudly. "We'll give 'em a fight we'll never forget!"_

_"No," said Morgan immediately. "We don't have the power to repel them anymore. I need you to tell them to get as many people they can to the dock on the opposite side of the island as soon as possible; we're evacuating!"_

_"I understand, milord," said Ajax, saluting and beginning to leave._

_"One more thing," Morgan said to get his attention. "Get the historians and the entire royal guard in here as soon as possible."_

_"Understood."_

_When he left, Marian looked at him with a concerned glance, saying, "We have to leave as soon as possible in order to get you some help."_

_"Not yet," replied Morgan gravely. Painfully, he kneeled down and looked at his three sons. Forcing a painful smile, he said, "Hey, guys, do you remember that poem I tell you all before they go to bed?"_

_"Mhm," said Mannix through his tears. "You've said it so many times now we've all memorized it."_

_"Then recite it to me, please."_

("Son of man,  
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only  
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,  
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,  
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only  
There is no shadow under this red rock,  
[Come in under the shadow of this red rock],  
And I will show you something different from either  
Your shadow at mroning striding behind you  
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you  
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.")

_Morgan smiled lovingly. "Good. Do me a favor. When you guys have kids one day, tell that to them every night and make sure they don't forget, and then tell them to tell your grandchildren all about it. It is, after all, the most secret hiding space on this island around, right?"_

_His sons giggled, remembering the days they used to hide out at the marked spot where Marius was famed to have killed Ganmore the Wild and taken his throne as the first Romanov king. _

_"We will, daddy, we promise!"_

_Pulling himself back up, Morgan looked at his wife and said, "You have to take the kids to the docks now. Not the ones on the south, but the hidden ones on the north. A lot of people will be gathering there, and I need you to help keep it orderly."_

_Tears were flowing down Marian's eyes as she asked, "Why is this happening, Morgan?"_

_"I don't know," was all he said before hugging her. When their embrace ended, he looked at all four of them and said, "Now go!"_

_Marian understood as she took Michael, Malcolm, and Mannix—all carriers of D., as their children will carry—left the throne room towards the secret northern dock._

_Not two minutes later did Morgan's request of historians and the royal guard entered. _

_He regarded them with passionate eyes and told them to follow him as he led them to the main throne room. There, right in the middle of the room, where the circular seal of the Ancient Kingdom lay, leaned down and grabbed a secret handle right in the middle of the circle, pulling it up to reveal a secret staircase._

_"Let's go, quickly!" he said._

_The staircase led the group down a good ways under the earth. When they finally stepped onto the solid ground, they looked to all sides and saw a _massive_, high roofed gray-stoned room. In the very middle, though, was an innumerable amount of cut Poneglpyhs, all inscribed with the true history of the Ancient Kingdom and the entire hundred years of the Void Century._

_Walking over to the closest one, Morgan touched it and looked towards one of the historians, asking, "This one is the last one, right?"_

_"Yes, milord, but it isn't finished, and—" started the historian._

_Morgan didn't care. Going towards the end of the wall where the tools necessary to carve into the Poneglyphs were located, he grabbed some and slowly moved back towards it. Very quickly and very sloppily (compared to the nice language on the others, at least), Morgan carved in the poem in the very last space, ensuring that people would understand the reference when it came to it._

_He then looked at the royal guard and said, "I command you to take every one of these Poneglyphs and get them to the North Dock on the double! There should be enough ships there to put a Poneglyph in each one. There, you'll find Ajax and tell him that on my orders, each ship is to set sail by nightfall and land on a different islands—make sure they're all properly scattered, now—and then the citizens on that ship are to stay there for the rest of their lives, blending in with whatever society they land on."_

_"But, my lord," one of the historians started. "Then the Ancient Kingdom will be all but lost!"_

_Morgan nodded. "It will be, except for these." He tapped the Poneglyph. "They're all that will remain of our culture and what has happened over the past 100 years. What's important is not winning the war anymore, but to simply preserve our culture and history. History, gentlemen, is all that matters now. Now get to work!"  
_

_The royal guard cheered and set to work immediately, while Morgan led the remaining historians out of the secret gray-stoned room and quickly hurried them towards the secret spot that the poem had talked about. The spot where the Romanov dynasty began._

_Showing them the dead tree stump, Morgan told the historians to move the stump (as he has lost too much blood and strength at this point) and revealed another secret room. Inside of it stood a natural Poneglyph, not cut in any form._

_"We Romanovs always knew a Poneglyph was here," Morgan said, "but this one was too important to be used with the others…until now."_

_"What shall we do?"_

_The king looked at the historians and said, "Record everything I say; that is all you can do…"_

_For Lord knew how long (certainly not Morgan, whose mind and vision began to fade), the historians listened to every word Morgan D. Romanov said. All the while, they could hear gunfire over their heads, and the screams of war from the Alliance soldiers._

_When it was all done, Morgan looked at all of the historians (fifteen in all) and said intently, "Did you all see and remember that poem I put on the final Poneglyph?"_

_"Yes."_

_Morgan smiled weakly and said, "Then do me a favor, and put the initial 'D' on all of your middle names. Then, I want you to do the same to all of your family members. Tell your sons and daughters the poem so that eventually they'll know it by heart and say it to their kids. They too will pass down the initial 'D,' it will eventually spread across the world…"_

_"Yes, milord."_

_Morgan looked at them all and said, "It's been a honor having you, men. Thanks to you, our memory is preserved. Now, get to the North Docks and meet up with your families. Remember my orders, now."_

_With that, the historians left, leaving Morgan in the secret room with the Poneglyph alone. He staggered over to it and put his hand on it. "History is all that matters now…" he muttered, a grin growing on his face._

_Then, Morgan D. Romanov—the last king in the Ancient Kingdom—dropped to the floor and died with a smile on his face._

* * *

Setting the mystery for future generations...

**Will Update on Sunday instead of Saturday.**

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	127. Just Before, and Then

With the past now told... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**127: Just Before, and Then…**

Several seconds after reciting the final line on the Rio Poneglyph, Nico Robin let out a very shaky breath. There it was, in its entirety: the Void Century. Dragon stared at the stone impassively, before finally looking down at the skeleton gripping the Rio Poneglyph.

"So that's Morgan D. Romanov, then, eh?"

Robin nodded quietly. "It seems like he is the main reason we have so many different people with the initial of 'D' in this world. They are direct descendants from either the king himself or the historians of the Ancient Kingdom."

"I'm sure he'd be happy to know his plan worked," said Dragon. "I always knew the World Government was low, but I never would have thought that they would blatantly deny help to other islands in an attempt to stay in power—and robbing another nation to increase their personal wealth and power to boot. Now I know why they don't want people to find out about this."

Touching the Rio Poneglyph again, Robin said, "Because if they did, the people would completely lose their faith in the World Government…"

"So it seems…"

Just then, static cut through the air, before saying: "Boss, come in. This is Commander Splint. Do you read me?"

Dragon reached into his cloak and pulled out a small den-den mushi. Speaking into it, he said, "I copy, Commander Splint. What's your status?"

"I'm currently on Red-Haired Shanks's ship _Red Force_ sailing towards Raftel," replied the revolutionary. "We just passed through the—what's it called?—Sea of Maelstroms as Shanks put it, and are in the All Blue with the remaining Straw Hat crewmembers. We'll be arriving shortly."

Dragon breathed in sharply, saying, "Understood, Commander Splint. Did you say you have the remaining Straw Hat crew with you?"

Static, before Dragon heard an angered Sanji yell, "You mean Luffy's dad has been on Raftel the entire time and you never told us?"

"Agh!" uttered Splint as Sanji seemingly struck him. "But I did say as far as _you_ knew, I was the only one here."

"Like that fucking helps!"

"Urgh! Just go back to looking at the All Blue, ya seafood freak!"

There was static for several seconds as Robin and Dragon waited patiently, neither speaking out of embarrassment for what was happening on the other side. Finally, Splint's voice returned, saying, "Sorry about that, Boss. And yes, I did say the remaining crew is here, counting Hancock, Sanji, Zoro, Brook, Franky, Chopper, and Usopp. We should be landing on Raftel any minute now."

"Roger, we'll meet you there," said Dragon effortlessly. "Dragon, over and out."

"Sure thing, Boss."

Dragon put away the den-den mushi and looked towards Robin. He motioned towards the ladder leading back up to the surface and said, "Let's go."

"Alright."

Robin took one last fleeting glance at the Rio Poneglyph and the skeleton

_(Morgan D. Romanov)_

before following Dragon towards the ladder. While climbing, she mulled over her thoughts on the Void Century and what all of it was exactly for, and why so many historians had to lose their lives to learn such a trivial piece of history.

Pushing it out of her mind, Robin decided she could sort all of that out later, and for now, seeing her friends and helping Luffy was much more important.

— — —

_"If my instincts are right—and they always are—then I should be able to reach the palace in no time to help Luffy!"_

Nami was currently running through another destroyed "town" that used to belong to the Void Century. Looking around rather quickly, it looked very similar to the location she, Robin, and Dragon fought Tobias at, and thought that the architects of the Ancient Kingdom built the entire place with a very precise system of order.

That didn't matter much now, though.

What mattered now was getting the palace—the most likely place Luffy will be fighting Victor—and helping her captain as soon as possible. She gripped her Clima-Tact and knew that she had the power to back him up and wouldn't just be collateral damage to Luffy.

Hopping over a rotting log and running down what used to be a cobblestone road, Nami hung a quick right. To her right was yet another large forested area with trees so large she couldn't tell if the palace was behind them or not.

She could, however, _sense_ that it was.

Shrugging, Nami said to herself, "It's not like I have a map or anything else to go off of."

Taking off at another run, she entered the forest, running in a straight line so she could get through the unnecessary foliage as fast as possible. After several minutes or running (as she was quite winded at this point), Nami stopped and grasped her legs, panting heavily.

After she regained her breath a bit, the navigator looked around and opened her ears. In order to fully understand where she was and where she had to go, she first had to open all of her senses to all that was around her.

She saw nothing significant, but that didn't matter, because she quickly heard something that tipped her off. It sounded like a human breathing heavily not too far away.

Luffy!

Gripping her Clima-Tact a bit harder, she took off in the direction of the sound. After breaking through a particularly thick area of foliage, Nami burst through to see neither Luffy nor Victor, but rather Big Mom, leaning her back against a tree while blood flowed from her, panting heavily to try and sustain her life.

"You're Lola's mother!" said Nami with a gasp, putting her hand over her mouth in surprise at her condition. "What happened to you?"

Big Mom turned her head to see Nami and offered her a weak smile. "Oh, it's you. You're the girl that Lola gave the Vivre Card to in the first place, aren't you? That must mean my daughter saw something special in you…"

Nami quickly rushed to her side and inspected her egregious wounds. She looked at her and persisted, "What happened?"

"Don't worry about it, child, it's just a scratch," said the Yonko reassuringly. "Aye, Big Mom has been through a lot worse, she has."

"We have to get you help as soon as possible," Nami said. "Just relax for now and try to breath deep."

"Such a caring soul," continued Big Mom with her grin. "No wonder my daughter likes you. She was always charming the boys with her looks, but she had a special talent of seeing true friendship in people."

"Uhh…sure," Nami said to the "looks" part of Big Mom's sentence. She then softened her smile and said, "She really is something special."

After a few seconds of silence between the two, Big Mom said, "I'm afraid your captain has taken off a while ago to fight with Victor."

"I half expected that," sighed Nami. "He always was the type to act before he thought."

"Bwohoho," chuckled Big Mom. "A special trait that only someone with the Will of D could properly pull off, it seems."

Nami looked over her shoulder furtively then looked back at Big Mom and said, "Look, I'm sorry to have to say this, but do you think you'd be okay on your own for a little bit more? You see, I have to go find Luffy as soon as possible to—"

"Stay here with me until help arrives," Big Mom said, cutting Nami off. She narrowed her glare at Nami and said, "Trust me, it's for the better that you stay away from their fight."

"But—"

"No buts," reiterated the Yonko. "You wouldn't leave someone dying all alone anyways, would you?"

Nami looked downward and said, "No, no I wouldn't…"

"Looks like the young captain has some very loyal shipmates," said Big Mom kindly. "Although if I know anything about him and the Will of D, then it's for the better that you lose some of that caring and just wait."

Sitting down next to Big Mom and leaning her Clima-Tact against her shoulder, Nami nodded, saying, "I suppose you're right. I'll wait here until help arrives."

"Good girl," Big Mom praised. Then, she added with a small chuckle, "And I think that just maybe when help _does_ arrive and you leave for your captain, you'll be in a better situation meeting him then than you would be meeting him now…"

— — —

"Alright everybody," Splint said, getting in front of the entire group as soon as they touched ground on Raftel. "Follow my lead and I'll lead ya right to where the Boss himself is—"

"Robin!" exclaimed Sanji, pushing Splint aside so hard he hit the floor with a grunt. "How I have longed for thee!"

Robin looked at her entire crew (including Shanks, Marco, Mihawk, and Splint) and regarded them with a kind smile. "Hello Sanji and everyone else. It is nice to see you again."

Splint quickly got back to his feet and walked over to Dragon. In a very serious voice, he whispered, "Did you find out what was needed?"

"I did," replied Dragon quietly as well. "With what I have learned, we'll have enough to destroy the World Government completely. We're just waiting on Ivankov and Inazuma now."

"They'll get the job done," reassured Splint with a grin. "I know they can."

Sanji was still busy swooning over Robin, saying, "Where is Nami? It's just not the same when two beautiful women are not here."

"Enough, stupid cook," Zoro said assertively, walking past him with his black bandana in his hand. "We're here to help Luffy and make him King of the Pirates, not to have you become lovesick all over again."

Sanji looked at Zoro with anger and said, "Tough words from someone who's barely standing right now, Marimo."

Zoro brushed it off and looked forward, tying his bandana on top of his head. "Barely standing? While that may be, it's my duty to my captain that I have to keep going, no matter what it may cost."

"I agree," Franky said, stepping forward. "We have to get to Luffy as soon as possible."

"The sooner the better!" added Usopp.

"Yeah!" cheered Chopper.

Hancock ran up to the front and said to everyone, "We have to get to Luffy as soon as possible! Without my help, he won't know what to do! It's my duty as his future wife to help him!"

"His future what?" Usopp asked Franky confusingly as the cyborg just shrugged.

The Yonko Red-Haired Shanks stepped forward, saying, "If you're all in agreement, then follow me. I've been on this island before, and I know the most direct route to One Piece, the location where Luffy and Victor are no doubt fighting!"

Everyone cheered at this as Shanks moved forward, everyone eagerly following. "Hopefully we'll see Nami on the way there," said Sanji in a sad tone.

Splint and Dragon were the two to take up the rear (just behind Marco and Mihawk), eager to follow the group, but willing to stay behind if they get the call from the two revolutionaries whom the fate of the world now depended on.

— — —

Kicking the palace doors in, Monkey D. Luffy charged inside and yelled as loud as he could: _"VICTOOOOOOOR!"_

He looked around the darkened palace room and saw nothing. Proceeding cautiously, Luffy let his instincts lead him. They got him to the palace (which with his direction sense is nothing short of a miracle), so they could lead him to Victor now.

Looking around the dark and dusty corridor, he saw gray walls with numerous cracks and vines growing through it, while it looked like the roof above him was barely staying up. Moving at a fairly rapid pace, the Straw Hat Captain moved through the door at the end of the corridor and kicked it open as well, though this time he didn't yell.

He peered inside to see an equally bleak and dusty circular room. Peering to the very end of it, Luffy could see the remains of a rotted throne; even a simpleton like Luffy could tell that he was in the throne room of the palace.

Looking up, he saw a high circular ceiling, also looking like it was about to collapse. At last, he looked down towards the middle of the room, where something peculiar caught his eye. Moving towards it, Luffy saw that the area was originally a place for a seal—for theAncientKingdom, Luffy deducted—although now it was currently lifted up.

He looked on the other end of the seal and saw a secret staircase leading into a darkened room. "I know you're down there, Victor," muttered Luffy before taking the first step to descend into the staircase.

He moved down it quickly, and when he finally moved into the large gray room that the stairs led to, his eyes were completely blinded.

There, right in the middle of the room, was the largest amount of treasure Luffy had ever seen in his life. Stacked up liked a massive mountain, all manner of gold, jewels, silver, weapons, and any other items of value were in that massive stack. Its sheer size was only dominated by its sheer brilliance, and Luffy thought that if he was able to move around it, his eyes would find something brilliant on all sides. In short, there were simply no words to describe what looking at the vast pile of wealth in the center of this large gray room was like.

"One Piece…" Luffy uttered almost immediately.

Then, taking his eyes off of the brilliant gold splendor for a second (which Luffy found was hard to do), he looked up to see none other than Victor D. Capere standing at the top of that pile of gold. Throughout all the sides of that massive high roofed gray-stoned room, pale white light flooded in through rather large slits.

"This room was originally used to store all of the Poneglyphs of the Ancient Kingdom," spoke Victor very solemnly, not bothering to look back towards Luffy. "Therefore, the architects of this room saw it fit to give it some sort of lighting system, so they developed these slits in the sides of the walls that were specifically made to capture light up on the surface and bring it down here. Well, one night twenty-three years, a pirate named Gol D. Roger saw this room and knew this was where he would store all of his treasure for the world to find." He looked back at Luffy with an incurable grin. "Pretty good, don'tcha think?"

"Victor…" scowled Luffy, clenching his fists. "It's all going to end here!"

Luffy's enemy turned around to face him and replied, "Oh, I completely agree, Straw Hat. Although I must warn you before we fight, there is something about the moonlight that brings out the full beast within me!"

* * *

The final battle for One Piece begins!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	128. Third Times Cause Harm

Luffy vs. Victor: Round 3! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**128: Third Times Cause Harm**

"Tell me, Straw Hat, what do you know about my powers?"

Monkey D. Luffy tilted his head at Victor D. Capere in confusion, saying, "I've fought with you two times before, and I know that your powers allow you to use several Devil Fruit powers any way you want."

"Correct," grinned Victor atop the massive fortune known as One Piece. "But what if I told you I had the power to manifest all of the Devil Fruit powers I attained, and put them all together into one that I could then unleash upon the world?"

"I'd say you're lying," Luffy said almost immediately. "If that was the case, why did you need to come to Raftel to use this power?"

Victor didn't bother answering. Instead, he braced himself where he stood and raised his right hand high into the air. Then, letting out a massive animal-like roar, Luffy could feel the entire room begin to shake.

"What are you doing?" the Straw Hat Captain demanded.

Then, slowly but surely, Victor began to lower his hand down towards his mouth, and in a grotesque display, he reached inside his mouth and began to pull it back, revealing what looked to be a Devil Fruit in the process. Holding it within his hand, the fruit's color was golden and was pulsating with life. It was shaped in the form of an apple, as well.

Luffy only looked at Victor with a confused and disgusted look on his face. Victor, however, began to laugh uncontrollably. After he calmed down, he held the fruit out to Luffy and said, "This, Straw Hat, is my 'lie' as you put it. By culminating all the powers I had in my body, I was able to condense it all into this one Devil Fruit. I like to call it the Random-Random Fruit."

"Random-Random?"

Victor grinned wolfishly. "That's right. It's called that because this Devil Fruit is special. Once every five minutes, it uses one of the Devil Fruit powers I've put inside it. Now what makes this so deadly is that this effect is random in a sense that I have no control over what power it uses, and I have no control over where this power takes form."

"What are you talking about?" demanded an angered Luffy. "Start making sense!"

Just then, the Random-Random Fruit pulsated and sent out a small shockwave, shaking the entire room slightly and letting out a rather loud popping noise. "Just now, the fruit decided to activate a Devil Fruit power it has. Unfortunately, I don't know where it sent the culmination of that power. Its ability could be sent to the East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, South Blue, the Grand Line, or maybe even the New World, and it could appear on any island."

"You don't mean…"

"That's right, Straw Hat." Victor snapped his fingers. "Given enough time, the Random-Random Fruit will unleash its power over every island. The complete destruction of the world as we know it in only a matter of hours."

Victor set the fruit down on top of One Piece and began to slowly walk down the gold mountain towards Luffy.

"Why?" asked the Straw Hat Captain.

"Hmm? What was that?" Victor asked, putting his hand to his ear.

Luffy glared daggers at Victor and asked, "Why do you want to bring destruction to the entire world?"

"Ahhh…" said Victor with a grin. "Is there an easier way to get rid of pirates and criminals?"

Luffy clenched his fists. "What?"

"I said," repeated Victor, "is there an easier way to get rid of pirates and criminals? I'm doing something the World Government _wishes_ it could do. In one fell swoop, I'm eliminating the threat of pirates for good. In order to start anew, we must first start with chaos. Then, and only then, can we begin to rebuild a world that is just and fair, not the current one that is corrupt and rotten."

"But thousands of innocent people will die!" roared Luffy.

Victor nodded his head. "Probably. There will always be survivors, though. And after all of the survivors come together, I was hoping to sail towards them on Poseidon as a symbol of a new order, but you took care of that for me, didn't you? I guess I'll just have to do it on the _Harbinger_ instead."

"You monster!"

Victor laughed, then said, "You asked why I chose Raftel to use this power on. Well, it's simple, the Random-Random Fruit would never harm itself, so therefore it would never unleash its power on this island. So once the chaos and destruction dies down, I will deliver all this treasure known as One Piece to the survivors of the world, and we can begin to rebuild. Only this time, we'll do it right!"

Luffy looked at the Random-Random Fruit sitting at the top of One Piece behind Victor. "So all I have to do is destroy that fruit, and everything will stop, right?"

"Probably," shrugged Victor. "Though if you do get past me and destroy the fruit, the impact it would cause by the sudden eruption of energy brought on by its destruction would most certainly rip this island asunder."

Luffy gave Victor an uneasy grin. "I'll take that risk!"

"One bit of good news, though," said Victor with a smile. "All of the powers I put into the Random-Random Fruit have exited my body. In short, I gave up most of my Devil Fruit powers and can no longer use them to fight. Not that it matters anyways."

That was all Luffy needed to hear. He immediately sprinted towards Victor, running up the mountain of gold with his fist cocked back saying, "Out of my way!"

Victor struck up a fighting position and said, "Bring it on Straw Hat! I won't let you destroy the fruit that will change this world for the bet—"

"Gum-Gum Pistol!"

Luffy's fist shot across Victor's face, sending blood flying from his mouth and sending Victor reeling away from the shock. Not letting up, Luffy threw his stretched foot into Victor's exposed stomach, yelling, "Whip!"

Gripping his stomach, Victor grunted while Luffy sped towards him and launched his fist straight into his chest, yelling, "Bullet!"

Victor flew backwards and landed on the gold in a heap several feet away from the Straw Hat Captain. Not even paying attention to Victor, Luffy ran straight towards the Random-Random Fruit, intent on smashing it into nothing.

"Slow-Slow Beam!"

A familiar purple light struck Luffy, slowing him down to a near stop. Luffy looked to see Victor on his feet, breathing heavily with blood flowing from his face. He slowly walked towards Luffy and stood right in front of him.

"I can see what your eyes are saying," he said to the frozen Luffy with a smile. "They're saying: 'How can he still be using Devil Fruit powers? He just said he gave them all up!' Well unfortunately Straw Hat, I didn't give _all_ of my powers up. And I must say, your Busoshoku Haki caught me off-guard. Now I see what you were doing all this time between now and our last battle. Unfortunately, I always pay back what I'm given!"

With that, he threw a powerful punch to the side of Luffy's face. Due to the Slow-Slow Fruit's effects, the attack wasn't seen immediately.

"Three…two…one…"

With that, Luffy's head flew to its side as the Straw Hat Captain was sent flying down One Piece and back onto the hard stone ground with a thud. Jumping up almost immediately, Luffy wiped the blood from his mouth.

Standing where he was when he struck Luffy, Victor let out a smile. "Surely you didn't think you're the only one who can use Busoshoku Haki, Straw Hat! While it may not be my strong suit, I'm more than willing to use it against you!"

"So this is it then, Victor," Luffy said solemnly. "Our final fight. It seems almost fitting that it'd be here, where I will also become the Pirate King. I warn you, this time it won't end until one of us is beaten!"

"Tough words, Straw Hat. You talk like you can beat me," retorted Victor smartly.

"You never know…"

With that, both men charged towards each other, the Random-Random Fruit emitting another shockwave and releasing its power somewhere in the world. Luffy launched his foot towards Victor and yelled, "Gum-Gum Stamp!"

Surprisingly, Victor turned into light particles, letting the attack pass right through him. He smiled and aimed his finger at Luffy, sending a beam of light speeding towards him.

_"Tilt head to the left…"_ thought Luffy instinctively.

He did, and the beam of light just skinned his cheek and hit the wall behind him, causing a small crack in the surprisingly tough stone. Victor didn't waste any time as he turned his fingers into blades by using the Dice-Dice Fruit, yelling, "Daisy Blades!"

Luffy leapt back slightly and grabbed Victor's arm with one hand, while using the other to launch a strike right at Victor's chest with Haki, connecting with his enemy and sending him back. Luffy followed suit.

"I didn't think you'd have any Logia powers left," said Luffy immediately. "Guess I was just too optimistic about it."

Victor cracked his neck and said, "The Glint-Glint Fruit is the only Logia power I kept, because Logia Fruit's are the one that can cause the most destruction. It doesn't matter though, Straw Hat, because I could still destroy you without it."

Luffy put his hand into his back pocket and felt a pair of seastone cuffs there.

_(Luffy looked at Dragon quizzically as his father simply held up a pair of handcuffs. "they're made of seastone," he explained. "the goal is to get these on Victor, and it will do what Haoshoku Haki can only do for a short period of time; cancel out all of his powers")_

Gritting his teeth, he thought, _"I just have to catch him off-guard once, and then I'll win this fight easily."_

"Getting careless, Straw Hat?"

Luffy didn't have time to respond as a sharp pain went through his leg. Stepping forward to brace himself, Luffy looked to see Victor behind him somehow. Looking downward, he saw what looked to be a pitch-black spear through his leg before it was pulled out. Immediately leaping away to face Victor again, Luffy saw that the bottom half of his body was black like a shadow.

Luffy came to an understanding immediately and said, "Keeping the Shadow-Shadow Fruit too, then, huh?"

Victor's shadow leapt off the floor and turned into a spear. With a smile, he replied, "Why not?"

Luffy ducked immediately and rushed towards Victor with his fist cocked back. "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

Victor easily sidestepped the attack and cocked his own fist back. With a smile, he struck Luffy right in his chest with Haki, sending him flying back to the ground. Recovering quickly, Luffy leapt up and shot both of his arms back. Imbuing his fists with Busoshoku Haki, he yelled, "Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

This took Victor by surprise, but he was able to raise both his arms up in an "X" shape over his chest as a defense. The attack struck him dead-on and sent him flying backwards, striking the wall with a grunt of pain. Pulling back, Luffy attempted to run towards the Random-Random Fruit (who recently let out another shockwave), but found that he was stopped when something grabbed his feet and yanked him to the ground.

Luffy looked to see two thick vines grasping both of his legs, then looked to see that the trail of foliage started from both of Victor's hands which were on the ground, while he glared dangerously at Luffy.

"Thanks, Bennett…" Victor muttered before pulling the vines backwards and sending Luffy straight towards him.

While they both came towards each other, the two of them cocked back their fists, and when they were in striking distance of each other, they both hit at the same time, sending their fist into the other's face.

Both men hit the floor from the shock instantly, and then both jumped up almost immediately as well. Victor was able to leap over Luffy to once again get in front of One Piece while Luffy turned around, cocking both his fists back.

"Gum-Gum…"

Victor used Kidd's Devil Fruit power to gather some of the gold and metal from One Piece to form a large fist. With a roar, he launched it towards Luffy just as the Straw Hat's fist flew towards him.

"…Cannon!"

Both struck each other at the same time, as both of Luffy's Haki-infused fists struck Victor at the same time right in his chest, sending him flying back into One Piece, and Victor's gold-plated fist struck Luffy's entire body, sending him flying backwards into the wall.

After a few seconds, both men rose up again, staring at each other while breathing heavily, each of them bleeding. "You know, Straw Hat, with that Busoshoku Haki, you're almost a challenge there," taunted Victor.

"And without your Logia's or other powers, you're not as scary as I thought you were!"

Victor spat defiantly, saying, "Talk, talk, but as long as I'm still standing, the earth is one attack away from destruction."

He wrenched his thumb back at the Random-Random Fruit, still sitting there on top of the world's greatest treasure.

Luffy remembered the seastone cuffs and said, "Not for long!"

With that, he struck his right fist into the ground as smoke began to arise from his body. Victor gritted his teeth and muttered a small curse at his opponent.

"Gear Second!"

The Random-Random Fruit emitted another shockwave.

* * *

A battle for time!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	129. Battle Between the Brawlers

Back onto the surface of Raftel... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**129: Battle Between the Brawlers**

"Nami, what happened?" demanded Zoro almost immediately upon seeing her.

The Straw Hat navigator looked up to see her entire crew there, including Shanks, Dragon, Mihawk, Marco, and Splint. "You guys!" she said immediately with joy, jumping up to run towards them.

"Oh, how I've missed you Nami!" gushed Sanji, running toward to try and embrace her.

Nami avoided the chef and ran to everyone else, glad to be back with the entire crew again. Big Mom smiled as Shanks ran towards her and said, "Nice to see ya again, kiddo!"

"Big Mom, what happened?" asked a concerned Shanks.

"Victor happened."

Nodding, Shanks turned back to the Straw Hat Crew and said, "Victor and Luffy are most likely fighting inside of the palace not too far from here. There will be a secret entrance inside the main room. Go there and help Luffy!"

"What about you?" questioned Usopp.

Shanks looked at Dragon, Mihawk, Marco, and Splint, saying, "We're gonna stay here to see what we can do about Big Mom. It's not our obligation to go with you. It is _your_ obligation as Luffy's crew, though, to go and help your captain! Now go!"

The crew looked at each other for a second, before they all decided he was right, and started to run past the group that would stay behind.

"Thank you…" Nami muttered to Shanks, taking one last look at Big Mom before leaving.

When they were gone, Mihawk let out a small chuckle and said to his former rival, "Must've been tough for you not to go along."

Shanks shook his head, saying, "Luffy would never forgive me if I helped him out, especially now when he's on the verge of becoming the Pirate King. Don't worry, I have faith in him as well as his crew."

Dragon, meanwhile, nodded, as he agreed with Shanks' every word.

— — —

"Gear Second!"

Victor spat blood out of his mouth defiantly as the steam swirled around Luffy. Almost immediately, Victor used his Slow-Slow powers to try and slow Luffy down. "Slow-Slow Beam!"

The Straw Hat Captain moved too quickly, however, and before Victor knew it, Luffy was at his side, cocking his fist back. "Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!"

The strike hit the unfortunate Victor in his exposed ribcage, causing him to spit up blood and get sent flying several feet away before hitting the wall. Recovering quickly, Victor stood up holding his side while thinking, _"This is bad. I didn't expect him to become so adept at Busoshoku Haki. I'll have to end this quickly before he can destroy the fruit!"_

Luffy moved again and appeared right in front of Victor with his fist posed to strike. Setting loose his own Haki, Victor turned into an innumerable amount of light particles and disappeared, allowing Luffy to hit the wall instead of his intended target. Much to Luffy's surprise, Victor appeared behind him, creating a sword out of light with his hand. With a grimace, he slammed the sword down onto Luffy's exposed shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.

Luffy quickly turned around and aimed to strike Victor, but he disappeared once again, leaving the sword in Luffy's shoulder. Surprise was stamped on the Straw Hat Captain's face when he sensed Victor behind him, but it was too late. Grabbing the back of Luffy's head, Victor slammed his face down onto the hard gray ground.

Luffy attempted to let out a scream, but Victor silenced it with a swift kick to the back of his head. "You're pushing your luck too much, Straw Hat," said Victor defiantly as the smoke around Luffy began to disappear. "Just because you've got Haki now doesn't take me out of this game!"

"Didn't expect it too…" coughed Luffy.

Victor grimaced and said, "You're far too inexperienced to be going up against me anyways. Just stay here and let me end it quickly."

Victor formed another sword of light and aimed it upwards, intent on impaling Luffy into the ground with it. Luffy, however, gritted his teeth and breathed deep, saying, "Gum-Gum Balloon!"

Luffy swelled up quickly, bringing the surprised Victor somewhat off-balance. Luffy quickly landed on his feet and turned around, cocking his fist back towards Victor's unguarded chest.

"Gum-Gum Rifle!"

His fist launched towards Victor, but it didn't connect with his chest. Victor was fast enough to outstretch his own arm and catch Luffy's fist, blocking his attack. With a grin, he yanked the hapless Luffy forward and threw his fist forward, slugging Luffy in the side of his face and sending him sprawling to the ground.

Victor held up his fist and said, "You see, using Busoshoku Haki's not that hard. If I were you, I wouldn't act like I'm already beaten, Straw Hat!"

Luffy coughed up some blood before standing up again. Then, he gazed at Victor, sending a powerful burst of Haki flying towards him and freezing him up. At that moment, steam appeared around Luffy as he yelled, "Gear Second!"

He appeared immediately in front of Victor, throwing both arms back and yelling, "Gum-Gum Jet Bazooka!"

Unfortunately for Luffy, Victor was able to turn to his side just in time, letting Luffy's attack fly past him at blinding speeds. Taking advantage of this, Victor threw his leg up and kicked Luffy in his exposed side, causing Luffy to spit up blood in pain and drop to his knees.

_"Almost got me…"_ Victor thought dangerously. _"Have to be more careful…"_

Victor turned his arm into blades and went straight for Luffy's throat. His target was ready, however, as he disappeared using his Gear Second speed and appearing right above him. Raising his leg up as high as he could, Luffy yelled, "Gum-Gum Jet Axe!"

Victor quickly rolled out of the way, letting Luffy strike the ground instead, although the impact did send him sprawling to the floor. Luffy dropped to the ground and rushed at the recovering Victor quickly, throwing his leg back and yelling, "Gum-Gum Jet Whip!"

Victor could only raised both his forearms up in a defense as his leg struck him dead on, sending him flying backwards. As soon as Victor hit the wall, the Random-Random Fruit gave off another shockwave.

Luffy simply stood where he was, breathing heavily as Victor slowly rose to his feet, bleeding, but a grin still present on his face. "It looks like it takes a lot out of you," he commented. "Using Haki, I mean."

Luffy was silent, but continued his heavy breathing.

Meanwhile, Victor used the Shadow-Shadow Fruit to send his own shadow around One Piece to get behind Luffy's back.

"You're just exhausting yourself by doing this," Victor taunted. "You'll never win this way."

Luffy ignored him, but smiled and said, "Talking this much isn't like you at all, Victor. Does that mean you're afraid?"

"You tell me, Straw Hat," Luffy heard behind him.

Luffy looked to see that Victor was now behind him, holding his own shadow in the form of a spear. With a grin, he jammed it down into Luffy's shoulder, causing Luffy to scream in pain. Instinctually, he threw his fist backwards and was able to hit Victor in his stomach, causing him to jump back as his shadow returned to him. Quickly changing Devil Fruits, Victor aimed his index finger at Luffy and shot a beam of light at him.

It went through his chest, causing Luffy to step forward to brace himself as he coughed up blood. Not giving up, though, Luffy activated his Gear Second again and disappeared, reappearing right at Victor's side.

"Gum-Gum Jet—"

"Slow-Slow Beam!"

Luffy cursed himself as he was frozen to his spot yet again. Victor grinned violently as he walked up to Luffy, turning his arm into a blade again. "Well, well, this reminds me of the first time we fought," he commented, before bringing his sword crashing across Luffy's chest.

After thirty seconds, the wound opened up as blood sprayed from it, causing Luffy to scream in pain. He was quickly silenced, however, when Victor slammed his fist right into Luffy's face, sending him onto his back on the cold gray floor yet again.

The Random-Random Fruit let out loosed another shockwave.

Victor sighed and put his hand to his face, shaking his head. "Here I'm supposed to be relishing the victory of my perfect plan, but instead I have to take care of you, Straw Hat. You've been hounding me for the longest time now, and it's only because of you that my plan has suffered such setbacks! Can you possibly understand my humiliation of being one-upped by a child? Well, can you?"

Luffy stood up very shakily, the diagonal slash across his chest dripping blood as he did it. Surprisingly, he smiled and looked at Victor. This seemed to anger him even more.

"If _I_ put a hitch in your plan," he said, "then they must not have been very good plans to begin with."

"Shut the fuck up!" Victor roared back, aiming his index finger to bring another beam of light shooting through Luffy's head.

Before he could, Luffy yelled, "Gear Second!"

He disappeared yet again

_( _"despite his injuries," _Victor couldn't help but think)_

and showed up right in front of Victor yet again, his large grin still present on his face. "Gum-Gum Jet Bullet!"

Victor was so angry he was caught off-guard, and as a result, he took Luffy's fist straight in his gut, causing him to spit up blood and get sent flying backwards. Luffy didn't stop there, however, as he rushed towards Victor yet again, dealing a deadly combo at him.

"Jet Bullet! Jet Stamp! Jet Whip!"

After those three attacks successfully connected, Victor was able to brace himself (albeit while in incredible pain) and rush forward, not caring about dodging, but only about striking back. Using Basil Hawkins' Devil Fruit, his skin turned to straw and he became a scarecrow complete with nails for claws.

"Devil Conquering Phase!"

He lunged forward and sunk both his claws into Luffy's shoulders just as Luffy brought his fists back for another attack. Letting out a scream, but still not caring enough to stop, Luffy roared, "Gum-Gum Jet Gatling!"

He unleashed a quick barrage of powerful punches straight into the enlarged and transformed Victor. The force of the attack was so much that Victor loosed his claw-like grip on Luffy and was propelled backwards into the vast fortune of One Piece with so much force that as soon as he hit it, he forced some of the treasure back as some collapsed over him, covering the top half of his body.

As soon as his combo was finished, the steam disappeared around Luffy as he clasped his knees, breathing heavily while blood flowed freely from his body. Before he could even get a chance to think, the Random-Random Fruit let out another shockwave.

_"Please stay down,"_ thought Luffy desperately as he looked up at the fruit on top of One Piece. _"Please be knocked out cold so I can destroy that fruit without any interruption!"_

Unfortunately for Luffy, the gold and treasure around Victor began to stir, as he stood up, moving everything around him. He stepped out outstretching both of his arms to reveal ten voodoo dolls growing out of each. With a grunt, they all dropped to the ground in a heap.

Luffy looked at him with a confused daze.

Victor smiled and said, "You're probably not familiar with Basil Hawkins' Devil Fruit. It allows me transfer all damage I receive to voodoo dolls, although the max I could sustain was twenty. I'd imagine you hit me about thirty or so times though, so it's not all that bad for you."

Victor gripped his chest as a fresh wave of pain was sent through it.

Quickly regaining his composure, he surveyed at Luffy surprisingly calmly and said, "Just as I thought. That Haki really wore you down. So much that even though you didn't use Haki on that last Gatling attack, you're still wiped out."

Luffy released his legs and stood straight again, as if to prove Victor wrong. Victor just grinned as he said, "Well, then lets see you try and stop me as I slaughter you!"

With that, he shot another beam of light straight through Luffy's leg, causing him to lose balance on it and start going down. Not letting up, he disappeared into light particles and reappeared right in front of Luffy and sent a devastating kick of light straight into his chin, sending him flying upwards.

Jumping up with him, Victor turned his body into a blade and slashed Luffy right across his chest and ended his deadly combo by bringing both his fists down on top of Luffy's head with a burst of Busoshoku Haki, sending the Straw Hat Captain flying down to the hard ground.

Victor landed lightly on his feet, his good spirit and calmness seeming to return after getting attacked by Luffy. Moving closer towards Luffy, Victor smiled as he saw his struggling form attempting to get up.

"It's over, Straw Hat," he said. "For the third and final time, you've lost. Just let it end."

He created a sword out of light and aimed it up at Luffy with the intent to finish him off. Before he could bring it down though…

"Luffy!"

Both Victor and the struggling and bloodied Luffy turned towards where the voice came from. There, both of them saw Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Boa, and Brook standing at the entrance of the hidden gray room. All of them looked at Luffy's condition with shock.

The Random-Random Fruit gave out another shockwave, shaking the room slightly.

Victor looked at them, and couldn't help but smile and say, "Welcome, you're just in time!"

* * *

The Straw Hat Pirates make it on the scene!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	130. The Captain and His Crew

The Straw Hat Pirates step in! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**130: The Captain and His Crew**

_They stopped right in the middle of the main chamber in the palace. There was no debate as to where to go from there, as the entire Straw Hat Crew saw the hidden door open in the floor._

_"Let's go."_

_They all rushed towards the hidden chamber, going as fast as they could in hopes that they'd all see their captain again that much sooner. Before the first person could go down the steps, however, Zoro appeared in front of them with his eyes held out wide to block their pass._

_"Move it, Marimo!" said Sanji immediately, a vein appearing over his eye._

_Zoro shook his head. "Not until we get some things out of the way first."_

_"Like what?" demanded the impatient Franky._

_"Before we go in, you guys have to promise that we won't interfere in Luffy's fight," Zoro said in a very serious tone._

_Surprisingly, everyone nodded, with Nami saying, "We've been with that idiot long enough to know he wouldn't stand for us interfering."_

_"We're simply there as his crew to support him as he wins," Usopp added with a grin. "And to watch him become the Pirate King."_

_"Just seeing Luffy again would be enough…" mused Boa Hancock._

_Zoro grinned wolfishly and turned around towards the stairs. "All right then, let's go see Luffy!"_

— — —

"Welcome, you're just in time!" Victor held out his finger and began counting everyone there. "One…two…three…seven…nine. Hmph, looks like my crew couldn't even take out _one_ of you!"

Everyone saw what they hoped they wouldn't. Victor was standing over their captain, victorious. Face-down on the hard gray floor was none other than Straw Hat Luffy, bloodied and not able to fight back.

"Luffy…" whispered Robin quietly, as Chopper looked like he was on the verge of tears.

Not heeding his own advice, Roronoa Zoro quickly threw Wado Ichimonji in his mouth and rushed towards Victor with his swords drawn, the sight of his captain blinding him with anger.

Leaping into the air towards Victor, he barreled towards him yelling, "Tiger Hunt!"

Victor quickly employed the powers of the Dice-Dice Fruit, blocking Zoro's attack with his forearms. Smiling at the swordsman, he pushed him back to the ground again, where Zoro skidded a few feet away from his enemy.

"Idiot!" reprimanded Sanji.

Before anyone could do anything to stop him, Zoro let out a roar of anger and rushed towards him again, yelling, "Oni Giri!"

Victor effortlessly blocked the attack with one arm. He looked at Zoro and said, "If you think any of your attacks have power, you're sadly mistaken." Holding out his free arm, it began to twist and contort until they started spinning like a tiller-blade. Zoro recognized it immediately, but by then it was too late. "It's time for you to go away! Buzz Saws!"

His attack struck Zoro straight across the chest, and it was enough to slice open his chest, sending blood flying, and send him flying backwards, screaming in pain. He landed on the floor with a thud, his three swords laying by him, not making a move.

Before Victor could even move again, Sanji and Franky rushed towards him, both ready to strike. "You bastard!" yelled Sanji when he saw what he did to Zoro. "Veau Vengeance!"

Victor didn't even have to move, as he surprisingly held both his arms out as a defense and was able to grab Sanji's outstretched leg, albeit he let out a grunt of pain and the impact sent both of them skidding back several feet.

"What…" started Sanji.

Victor didn't bother speaking as he gripped his leg tighter and threw him towards Franky with a grunt. The cyborg was surprised and had to stop his attack in order to catch Sanji. Before either could react, Victor was on them, using the Plant-Plant Fruit to ensnare them both in tough vines, binding them together.

Franky was about to speak (obscenities to Victor, no doubt), but before he could he began to feel his joints freeze up. That's when he realized that plants began to grow out of his mechanical joints, stopping his movement entirely.

Sanji began to struggle, moving his legs and saying, "You son of a bitch! Diable Jam—"

One swift punch from Victor to the side of his face cut him off, stunning him. Franky was attempting to move, but Victor simply held out his right arm and was able to repel both of them backwards without even touching them. Screaming, Franky struck his unprotected back against the tough gray wall. He dropped to the floor with a thud, not moving anymore.

"Good thing you're made of metal, or else that magnetic repulsion wouldn't have worked," said Victor, flexing his hand.

"Ocho Fleur!"

Victor was suddenly caught up within eight of Robin's hands, all of them threatening to break him in two. With a bit of strain in his voice, Victor chided, "Sneak attacks aren't really fair, Nico Robin."

"Shut up," said Robin humorlessly as she turned to Usopp and Nami, each of them getting their weapons ready. "Take him out."

Grinning, Victor asked, "So didja finally learn about the entire Void Century? Don'tcha think that was a mighty depressing tale?"

"Shut up!" reasserted Robin, not willing to wait anymore. "Clutch!"

She only snapped Victor's shadow in half, unfortunately, as the real Victor appeared right behind her, forming his shadow up into a sword. Robin barely had time to turn around before he slashed her right across her chest, causing her to spit up blood and crumple to the floor effortlessly.

"Robin!" shouted Usopp, arming his Kabuto. "Sunflower S—"

"Slow-Slow Beam!" yelled Victor, shooting the purple beam right at Usopp, freezing him along with his just released pellets.

Nami raised her Clima-Tact up behind Victor, electricity forming on the end of it. She heaved the end towards Victor screaming, "Swing Arm!"

Just then, Brook ran towards the electrified Victor with his sword out, yelling, "Three-Verse Humming: Arrow-Notch Slash!"

He easily cleaved through Victor, dropping half of his body on the ground. Nami looked at Brook doubtfully and aside, "Did that get him?"

Brook nodded, saying, "I easily cut through his bones…Oh wait, I am only bones, yoho—URGH!"

A beam of light shot through the skeleton, dropping him to the ground instantly while muttering something like, "A bone-crushing defeat…"

"That last pun made no sense, ya idiot," Nami heard Victor say.

She turned around and saw him standing there, perfectly unharmed, his smoking finger aimed straight at Brook. Nami raised her Clima-Tact again, but Victor raised his hand, implying her to stop.

She didn't.

"Thunderbolt Tempo!" she yelled.

Victor shook his head and said, "I was just trying to tell you that the thirty seconds was up."

"Huh?"

"—tar!" finished Usopp, as five of his pellets regained their normal speed.

Unfortunately, they were aimed at Nami, who had no time to dodge them and disappeared in an explosion Usopp caused himself. "Oh no!" said Usopp, so distraught he dropped his Kabuto. "Nami, are you okay?"

He only moved a step before a beam of light went through his chest, causing him to cough up blood and get sent flying back due to the impact, landing on the floor silently. Victor dropped his finger and looked around, beginning to say, "Now I believe there were two more…"

"Perfume Femur!"

Boa Hancock smashed her leg across the side of Victor's face, causing him to grunt in pain and drop to the floor with blood spraying from his face. He landed on the hard ground and rolled a few times before recovering back on his feet. He looked to see the ex-Shichibukai standing there, a look of complete anger on her face.

"How dare you!" she started. "You're going to pay for this."

Victor wiped the blood from his face as the Random-Random Fruit sent out another shockwave. "I bet that I am…"

Right at that moment, Victor could sense Chopper in his Heavy Point right behind Victor, his fist cocked back and ready to strike. Before he could react, though, Hancock sent a burst of Haki towards him, freezing him on the spot.

"Heavy Gong!"

Victor was hit right across the jaw, sending him to the floor once more. Recovering rather quickly, yet again, he rose to his feet and growled. Moving quickly, he transformed into light particles and aimed his index finger at him.

Before Chopper could question what was happening, the light-beam hit him in a sudden explosion, dropping the Straw Hat doctor without a word. Thrown off-guard at this, Boa Hancock moved in to strike yet again, but Victor countered her with his own Haki, stopping her right in her tracks.

Using the Glint-Glint Fruit again, Victor appeared right in front of Hancock, grabbing her by the throat. "Give it up!" he snarled. "You're all too worn out from the fight with my own crew! Even though they didn't serve their purpose of taking you out completely, it was more than enough for me to do it for them!"

"You monster!" shot back Hancock, spitting right in his face.

With a roar, Victor delivered a smashing strike to her gut, causing her to grip her stomach with both arms and cry out in pain. Moving in quick succession, he threw a kick right to the side of her face, sending her head smashing into the ground, where she landed and lay still.

Panting rather heavily, Victor looked around the room that stored One Piece. Luffy the Captain, Zoro the Swordsman, Franky the Shipwright, Sanji the Chef, Robin the Archaeologist, Nami the Navigator, Brook the Musician, Usopp the Sharpshooter, Chopper the Doctor, and Boa Hancock all lied on the floor, bloodied and defeated.

The Straw Hat Crew had been defeated.

Putting his hand to his face, Victor began to chuckle. Then, unable to contain himself, it grew into an all-out howl as he surveyed the carnage around him. "Heh heh heh heh heh…he ha ha ha ha ha ha…HEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Looking back up at the Random-Random Fruit, it lay undisturbed, quietly doing its work while the fight had been proceeding below it. With a smile, he looked around at the entire defeated crew yet again.

"The Corps of Kings served me well in weakening you all to such a degree," he said, still laughing. "They served their purpose, and for that, I thank them."

He turned back to the Random-Random Fruit, and not but three seconds later, he heard footsteps clattering behind him. "One Sword Style: Lion's Strike!"

Victor turned around quickly enough and used the Dice-Dice Fruit to block his attack with his arms. Surprisingly, Victor felt himself being cut as Zoro quickly sped past him opening up a large slash on both his arms that sent blood flying out. Zoro quickly sheathed his sword and turned around, Victor doing the same.

"Such devotion…" breathed Victor. "It must hurt to be standing and fighting in your condition right now."

"Not so much," Zoro shot back. Then, he leapt into the air with his single sword and yelled, "One Sword Style: Flying Dragon Blaze!"

Victor quickly switched from the Dice-Dice Fruit to the Glint-Glint Fruit, letting Zoro's attack cut through him effortlessly, and surprisingly, bursting him into flames immediately afterwards, not that it hurt Victor anyways.

As soon as Zoro hit the ground again, Victor reappeared in front of him, his entire leg glowing as he booted Zoro across his face, sending him flying across the room and ridiculous speeds before striking his back against the gray wall and stopping right against it in a leaning position, blood flowing from his head.

Still, he was conscious, and he looked up at Victor, smiling. This unnerved him to some degree, as he yelled at the swordsman. "Your body is broken and you're on the brink of death! Even after fighting a life-and-death match earlier, you don't give up! Even now, while your body won't even let you move anymore, you still smile in defiance! And all for him?"

He pointed at Luffy, lying on the floor a few feet away from him.

"Why do you push yourself to death just for him? Is it worth death to do what you're doing? Why go through all of this trouble?"

"Because he's my captain…" Zoro said.

Victor's eyes widened, as he took a precautionary step away. Much to his surprise, everyone on the Straw Hat Crew stirred from their unconsciousness and looked right at him. Their glares piercing right through him.

Victor quickly stumbled a bit up the vast treasure of One Piece, as the Straw Hat Crew all continued to stare at him.

"We do it because he brought us all here," Nami said.

"Because he's the anchor of our crew," Usopp said.

"Because he's the one who keeps things interesting," Sanji said.

"Because he's the one who never gives up," Franky said, still being tied to Sanji.

"Because he's following his dream," Chopper said.

"Because he's stubborn beyond all belief," Robin said.

"Because he's a savior to those who need it most," Brook said.

"Because he's the man I intend to marry," Hancock said.

"Because," Zoro said with his grin still ever-present, "he's the one who's going to become the Pirate King. Isn't that right, Captain?"

Victor looked to see Straw Hat Luffy, completely conscious and looking at his entire crew with wonder. Laughing, he forced himself to roll onto his back, saying, "So you guys all showed up anyways? Isn't One Piece a sight to behold?"

"It sure is great," Nami agreed, some greed showing in her eyes.

Victor shook his head, muttering, "So you'd all be willing to give your life up for your captain, eh? How naïve…how incredibly idiotic! HOW CAN YOU BE SO FUCKING STUPID AND BLIND?"

Luffy grinned at his enemy, saying, "Because we're pirates!"

"PIRATES ARE THE SCUM OF THIS EARTH!" roared Victor. "THEY'D THROW EACH OTHER TO THE DOGS IF THEY HAD THE CHANCE! THE ONLY GOOD PIRATE IS A DEAD PIRATE, AND I INTEND TO SEE IT THAT WAY!"

The Random-Random Fruit gave off yet another shockwave.

"Careful," Robin warned to Luffy. "This man has some deep-seated issues with his past, and it looks like they're about to come out for all of us to see…"

* * *

Getting the rest of his history...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	131. Romance Down

The entirety of his history with Roger revealed. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**131: Romance Down**

_26 years ago/1496 AOS  
The Reverse Mountain_

_"Ever been to the Grand Line, Victor?" Gold Roger asked._

_Victor D. Capere looked at his new captain and nodded. "I was born on an island in the Grand Line—called Ladaka Isle."_

_"Ladaka, eh?" mused Roger, stroking his chin. After a few seconds, he said bluntly, "Never heard of it."_

_Victor grinned a bit, saying, "I wouldn't expect you too. It wasn't that well-known."_

_First Mate Silvers Rayleigh walked up to Roger's side (as the captain himself was looking from the front of his boat), saying, "Captain, we'll be hitting the mountain soon."_

_Roger nodded and turned around, Victor deciding to leave and join the rest of the crew. Grinning from ear-to-ear, Gold Roger saw his crew gathered on the deck of his ship and threw his arms out wide. "Well, men," he said, "let's return once again to the place we love—to the Grand Line!"_

_The Roger Pirates cheered wildly, raising their arms in agreement. Victor happily joined in, knowing he was in for an exciting trip. He looked to see that the Reverse Mountain was coming up fast, and soon enough the ship was caught in its rapid current, sending everyone to grip something to hold onto._

_Not too far away, Victor could hear someone say, "Wah, I hate this part! Why isn't there an easier way to get to the Grand Line?"_

_Then, another voice. "Give it up, this is the only way in, and we've even done it before!"_

_"That doesn't mean I have to like it, dumbass!"_

_The pace picked up slightly as Victor looked to see the pair. One was a fairly-normal looking man, younger than himself. He had red hair and a straw hat firmly placed atop his head. The person he was speaking too, though, didn't look so normal. His most noticeable feature was a large round red nose. He wore a strange-looking cap that hid his blue hair. Other than that, though, he seemed normal enough._

_Victor couldn't help but grin and look over at the man with the red nose, saying, "It'll probably be better if you just close your eyes, that way it won't seem as bad!"_

_"See, Buggy!" the man with the straw hat said. "No one else but you is afraid. But if you really can't stand it, just close your eyes!"_

_The pace of the Reverse Mountain began to slack as they were about to reach the peak and then slide downward. Buggy decided to shut his eyes and say to Victor, "Fine, I'll close my eyes!"_

_Victor looked at the smiling Shanks and smiled back. Then, both of them turned their heads to the front of the boat (mostly to see what all the yelling was about), and both exclaimed at the same time: "HOLY SHIT!"_

_"What?" demanded Buggy, with his eyes still closed. "What is it?"_

_"Nothing," Shanks said. "Just don't open your eyes, o—"_

_"Waaaah! It's a giant whale!" the apprentice exclaimed unhappily, seeing Laboon at the bottom of the mountain._

_Leila Terpscere, affectionately known to the Roger Pirates as Big Mom, turned to the navigator and yelled, "HARD TO STARBOARD NOW!"_

_The navigator happily obeyed, turning the speeding ship quickly so they didn't run into the hulking monstrosity. _

_Roger couldn't help but laugh and look at Rayleigh, saying, "I guess this is what we get when we go down a route we've never taken before into the Grand Line!"_

_"You got that right, captain," said the first mate with a grin._

_"Almost there!" the navigator yelled as their ship continued hard to the right._

_Laboon let out a massive shriek. Victor closed his eyes and covered his ears, Shanks and Buggy following suit. Before they knew it, Laboon's cries stopped and they could hear the Roger Pirates cheering. Victor opened his eyes to see that the ship had successfully passed by the monstrous whale. Exhaling a sigh of relief, Victor looked to Shanks, who was standing over a passed-out Buggy._

_"He'll be fine," explained Shanks with a grin, tipping his straw hat. "It happens a lot."_

_Victor strolled over towards him and inspected Buggy, saying, "I'd hope not. If that's true, I'd have to question whether or not he should be a pirate."_

_Shanks kneeled down to get closer to Buggy, saying, "You'd think so, but he's very handy in a fight and _loves_ treasure more than any other pirate. Hey, Buggy, wake up, will ya? We're weighing anchor for a while to check out the lighthouse."_

_He slapped the apprentice enough times to wake him up. He bolted upright and looked around, seeing Laboon still staring longingly at the Reverse Mountain. He then breathed a sigh of relief and hopped up. "Right, well, we'd better get going then!"_

_He quickly jogged away from the two in order to save himself from the embarrassment of passing out. Shanks and Victor looked at each other for a second, then they both laughed. When it died down, Shanks held out his hand._

_"My name's Shanks, by the way."_

_Victor gripped his hand firmly. "Victor D. Capere. Nice to meet you."_

_Shanks looked towards the Roger Pirates leaving the ship, saying, "Wanna go see what's here?"_

_Victor shrugged. "Don't see a reason not to."_

_The two pirates walked down the plank onto the small mass of land holding a lighthouse. There, they caught up with Buggy who was at the back of a crowd of gathering pirates. At the front, Gold Roger and Silvers Rayleigh met with a large man wearing circular spectacles with his hair done in a strange style reminiscent of two small wings on both sides of his head._

_"I'm Crocus, the keeper of the Cape," the man said to Roger, gripping his hand. "Sorry if Laboon's caused you any trouble. He's a good whale at heart."_

_Gold Roger glanced back at Laboon to see him currently slamming his head against some of the rock, crying out the entire time. "He seems a little upset."_

_"Aye," agreed Crocus. "I've been with him for years, keeping him in check with a mixture of my own medicine, but it's tough keeping him in line."_

_Roger tilted his head quizzically, asking, "Medicine? Are you a doctor?"_

_Crocus nodded. "And quite a good one, if I do say so myself."_

_A grin spread across Roger's face, as he said, "I'd very much like to see some of your medicine, if you don't mind."_

_"Sure. I was just about to go and sedate Laboon anyways. Follow me."_

_As Crocus led Roger away, Rayleigh turned back to the standing Roger Crew and said, "Well, what are you all standing there for like a buncha idiots? Get back to the ship already!"_

_Victor, Shanks, and Buggy looked at each other confusingly for a while, before the three of them shrugged and followed each other back to the ship with the other pirates._

— — —

_Shanks sipped some ale in the dining hall of the ship and tipped his hat upwards, looking at Victor directly._

_"So being a bounty hunter began to get boring to you, eh?" he asked with a slight grin. "Can't say I blame ya. The lure of a pirate life is pretty enticing."_

_Victor was silent for a second, then shrugged, saying, "I suppose so. I just want my life to be as interesting as possible, really."_

_"What about your bounty hunting friend, though," asked the red-haired pirate. "Won't you miss him?"_

_"Bennett, you mean," Victor said quickly. "He loves bounty hunting, and I have no doubt he'll do it until the day he dies. As for me, though, I have bigger prospects."_

_Shanks leaned forward slightly, his lazy grin still there. "Exactly what are your prospects then, Victor?"_

_Victor pondered this for a few seconds, before finally saying, "I guess it would be to have fun and enjoy life. That's all."_

_Shanks downed the rest of his ale. "Well you picked the right ship for that! After every battle we have a celebration!"_

_"I'd imagine you have quite a few with the captain being worth 500 million berries," said Victor. "Hell, he's probably the most famous pirate in the world."_

_"Well, him and Whitebeard, I'd say," explained Shanks. Then, he shook his head, saying, "Why are we talking about this anyways? We should be setting sail pretty soon. Well, once the captain gets back from talking with Crocus."_

_Then, as if by fate, Buggy rushed into the dining hall, panting with excitement clearly on his face. "Shanks!"_

_Looking calmly at his companion as he threw himself into a seat next to him, Shanks raised his glass, saying, "Hey Buggy, what's up?"_

_Buggy went to catch his breath, glancing at Victor briefly before looking at Shanks, saying, "You know that weird-haired guy at the lighthouse?"_

_"Yeah, his name is Crocus," answered Shanks._

_"Well he'll be joining our crew," Buggy said. "He's gonna become our new doctor."_

_Shanks smiled, saying, "It's about time. The captain's needed one for a while now."_

_"We've been missing a doctor?" questioned the confused Victor._

_Both Shanks and Buggy stared at him quizzically. "You didn't know?" asked Buggy._

_Victor shook his head. "What're you talking about?"_

_"The captain's sick," Shanks said. "It's a new kind of incurable disease. After our last doctor died in battle, we've been searching for one who could keep his health in check."_

_Victor raised an eyebrow. "If he's sick, then why does he wanna go back to the Grand Line?"_

_"One final adventure," Shanks and Buggy said at the same time. "That's what he wants for us. To celebrate the pirate life."_

_Buggy quickly turned back to Shanks, saying, "Anyways, this Crocus guy is joining us to try and find information on another pirate crew called the…"_

_Pirate life. This thought felt somewhat strange to Victor, although he thought it was an exciting thought as well. Who cares if Roger was sick. Certainly not Victor D. Capere. Gol D. Roger seemed like just what he needed to add excitement to his life, and he was more than happy to fight under the captain. And die underneath him if needed._

_That's when Victor's admiration for Roger began to grow._

— — —

_Three days passed since Doctor (though he hated being called that) Crocus joined the Roger Pirates, and Victor had a little more time to adjust to the new crew. He spent some time with Silvers Rayleigh, who, even though Victor tried to prompt him into it, wouldn't speak of Roger's illness._

_"It's nothing Roger's getting excited about, and it won't hinder him in battle," Rayleigh said, and left it at that._

_It was one day while getting onto the deck from the inside of the ship, Victor was greeted with a large amount of cheering. He looked quizzically towards where the cheers were coming from. He walked to the center of the deck where he saw Buggy and Shanks gripping each other by the collars, each with a grimace on their face._

_"It's the _north _pole!" said Buggy._

_"No, it's the _south_ pole!" Shanks replied._

_Then they both started to scuffle, with Buggy yelling, "You're a stubborn fool!"_

_"I'm stubborn because I know I'm right!" shot back Shanks._

_The crew was up in a roar, with Victor included._

_"That's enough!" shouted Rayleigh, smashing both apprentices over the head and stopping their fight. "You two are always fighting!"_

_Shanks and Buggy rose up, both clearly still angry at each other. Victor leaned to the closest person and asked, "Are they always like that?"_

_"Aye," said the pirate, still chuckling. "They act like they hate each other, but they're really best friends on this ship."_

_Rayleigh pointed accusingly at the two, saying sternly, "Who cares whether it's colder at the south pole or north pole? If you must know, then go find out for yourself. You two need to cool off!"_

_The crew enjoyed one last good laugh before beginning to disband, Shanks and Buggy getting up and stumbling away from everyone, rubbing the bumps on their head that they got from getting "reprimanded" by Rayleigh._

_Victor eyed both of them with a still-amused look on his face. They both glared daggers at him, then Buggy looked to speak, but Shanks quickly cut him off, saying, "Which do you think is colder, Victor? The north pole or south pole?"_

_Victor shrugged. "Who knows? Does it really matter?"_

_"It does!" interjected Buggy, looking at Shanks with a fixed glare. "Because _some_ people are just too stupid to accept the truth!"_

_"It makes no sense that the north pole would be colder!" Shanks shot back. "Your logic is all flawed, Buggy!"_

_"Can I ask you one thing?" asked Victor._

_"What?" they both asked at the same time, still clearly angry with each other._

_Victor retreated a step back if only out of shock, raising his hands in a non-threatening gesture. "I was just wondering, have either of you or this crew ever _been_ to the north or south pole?"  
Shanks and Buggy looked at each other for a second. Then, a collective: "No."_

_"Well then, I'd say it doesn't really matter."_

_The two apprentices were about to open their mouth to protest, when they heard a pirate in the crow's nest yell, "Ship approaching! North by northeast!"_

_Everyone looked towards that direction and saw a ship off in the distance. Everyone was immediately up in arms, with Buggy running off to go and get his weapons, Shanks following suit despite having his sword at his side._

_"Head straight for 'em! It's time to fight!" crewmates yelled, all drawing their weapons._

_An incurable grin appeared on Victor's face as he punched his fists together, anticipating the battle to come with his new crew, the Roger Pirates._

_It was time to draw first blood!_

* * *

Fighting with Roger for the first time!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	132. Romance Down 2: Shoot Up and Smash Back

Fight! Fight! Fight! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**132: Romance Down 2- Shoot Up and Smash Back**

_Throwing a quick right hook, Victor smashed a pirate (they called themselves the "Blacktooth Pirates") right in the side of his face, dropping him like a stone. Grinning at the sight of his blood gushing, Victor sensed another Blacktooth pirate sneaking up behind him, a cutlass in his hand. Just when he swung his blade horizontally, Victor dropped down and threw his foot straight into the pirate's chest, sending him flying to the ground._

_Leaping back up, Victor heard a Roger pirate yell in the middle of the battle, "Come on, we're boarding their ship to finish off their captain!"_

_Victor didn't want to miss such an opportunity._

_He quickly rushed over through the battle which took place on their ship, leaving Buggy (who would soon find a treasure map on the deck) and Shanks to their own fights. Sprinting across the unstable board connecting the two pirate vessels, Victor soon found himself at the back of several Roger pirates, all trying to swarm the captain's room._

_It didn't take long for all of them to destroy the opposition, who tried to protect their captain. Firing a quick shot, Gol D. Roger bravely strode into Captain Blacktooth's room, flanked by Silvers Rayleigh and Leila Terpscere (Big Mom)._

_Victor was one of the few pirates in the front, and got a good view of his captain striding towards his opposing captain, who was clearly terrified at his fight._

_"Oh, man, you're really him, aren't you?" Blacktooth asked incredulously. "Y-You're really…Roger, with a bounty of 500 million…"_

_Roger smiled carelessly and said, "You got it, buddy. It's rather unfortunate you crossed our path, but that's the way of the pirate, I suppose."_

_"P-Please, just let me and my crew go!" the captain begged._

_Roger kept his smile as he held his pistol out in front of him. "You know," he said, "I have been known to have a violent history with anyone who ever tries to hurt my crew. You know what your crew is trying to do to my crew this very minute?"_

_Blacktooth blinked and swallowed visibly. "Hurt them?"_

_"Bingo!" said Roger with a laugh. He leveled his pistol closer to Blacktooth. "Besides, what kind of pirate would I be if I didn't want some of your treasure?"_

_"Please, stop! I beg y—"_

_No such luck._

_Blacktooth dropped harshly as Roger put his pistol away. He turned to his crew and said with a massive grin, "Come on, boys, the treasure on this ship's ours for the takin'!"_

_Everyone cheered (including Victor) at this, as the Roger pirates got to work, moving all through Blacktooth's personal chamber, with Roger and Rayleigh standing at the side, both apparently content._

_It didn't take Victor long to open a drawer on Blacktooth's desk and find a small-looking treasure chest. Pulling it out, he inspected it. It looked plain and unassuming enough. Victor opened it. Once he saw its contents, he quickly jogged over to Roger._

_"Captain, look at what I've stumbled upon," he said with a smile, handing the box over to Roger._

_The captain opened it and saw a purple oval-shaped Devil Fruit. "Well isn't that lucky…" Roger commented while taking the fruit out._

_Rayleigh adjusted his spectacles and looked at it. Victor just stood there._

_Roger thrust the Devil Fruit out towards Victor. "The rule of our crew is that those who find a Devil Fruit get first rights to eat it, if they desire," he explained. "So, Victor, would you like to partake in this cursed fruit?"_

_Victor shook his head. "I'm not a big fan of Devil Fruits, personally. I don't think whatever power it gives you is better than losing your right to swim."_

_Roger uttered a small laugh while putting the fruit back into the chest. "I suppose that's the truth. Though sometimes the power it grants you is pretty strong—just look at Whitebeard. Oh well, we'll just throw it with the rest of the treasure and if anyone wants to eat it, they can. Good find, Victor."_

_Victor nodded, before turning away to look for more treasure._

_Roger looked over at his First Mate and said, "Quite an eye that Victor has."_

_Rayleigh nodded. "He can hold his own in a fight pretty well, too, it seems."_

— — —

_Only a day had passed (after enjoying himself the night before at the celebration party) when Victor strode onto the deck to once again see a crowd gathered around the front of the ship. It didn't take long for him to know what it was for._

_"I, apprentice Buggy…will eat the Devil Fruit!"_

"This oughta be good,"_ Victor thought, listlessly strolling towards the crowd._

_Some pirates were cheering him on. "Ahahahaha, youngsters don't think about consequences!"_

_"Aye, but Buggy's got real sand in his craw!"_

_It didn't take Buggy long to throw the pineapple-shaped fruit into his mouth and swallow it with several chews. "Arr! He ate it!" the crew cheered._

_Buggy took a few steps forward as a crewmember asked, "Well, feel any different?"_

_His reply was pallid. "Not really…"_

_Victor was surprised._

_"Hmph! Maybe it wasn't ripe," one pirate suggested._

_Another crossed his arms and said, "Maybe those tales about the Devil Fruit were lies!"_

_"No, I assure you they're not," Victor said to him. "It must be that we mistook the fruit for a Devil Fruit. I could've sworn, though…"_

_"It's a real shame," Buggy feigned quickly. "Well, I gotta go; cya!"_

_He quickly took off. Victor left, beginning to doubt everything he thought about the Devil Fruit._

_His thoughts of doubt were later cleared, though, when Buggy fell over the ocean and couldn't swim, forcing Shanks to save him. Victor watched from the side of the deck with bemused interest._

"Wonder what kind of power he got,"_ was all Victor could think of at that moment._

— — —

_26 years ago/1496 AOS  
The Grand Line_

_Glasses were clinked, laughs were roared, and shots of alcohol were administered in the dining hall as the Roger Crew decided to party it up._

_The reason? Nothing specifically. They just departed from Alabasta to get new supplies (and stay as far away from the capitol as possible, lest they draw attention to themselves). They bought most of their supplies from a kindly (if not slightly plump) store owner named Toto who seemed more than happy to serve "lowly pirates" such as themselves._

_"Drink! Drink and be merry!" a pirate cried, downing his ale in one drop before falling over completely drunk. Everyone around him laughed at his expense._

_Victor D. Capere was a big fan of parties, however, he found that it was much better when he was in large company with people he knows. While he didn't have trouble becoming friendly with the crew, he found that it was hard to bond with them. As such, he tended to stick with Shanks and Buggy (who now had the Chop-Chop powers, Victor had found out) during celebrations._

_Currently, Victor and Shanks found themselves locked in a fierce drinking game. They both had just downed their tenth drink and neither was giving up. Buggy sat at the side, munching on some nearby food and drinking himself (albeit at a much slower pace), simultaneously cheering them on and laughing at them._

_Both pirates just refilled their cups with more ale and sat back down across from each other, both staring in a competitive way. "Sure you can handle yourself any longer, Victor?" taunted Shanks._

_"I'm doing just fine," Victor replied. "By the way, I don't much care for your straw hat."_

_After several seconds, both he and Shanks erupted in laughter. After it died down, they both down their cups in one gulp._

_"Eleven," Buggy said. "You guys are pretty stupid, ya know that?"_

_Shanks waved Buggy off, saying, "You just lack a taste for real partying."_

_"I _love_ partying, idiot," defended the red-nosed apprentice, "but I like it even better when I can remember it the next day."_

_Victor gave a quick hiccup before saying, "I always remember the party, no matter how drunk I get, I'll have you know…I—what was I going to say again…?"_

_"Yeah, sure," said Buggy, clearly not impressed. Then, his eyes quickly darted away and he immediately began to sweat and panic. "Guys! Don't look now, but_ she's_ looking at us and headed straight for—"_

_"Hey everybody!" Big Mom said cheerfully with a plate of food in one hand and a glass of alcohol in the other. She sat down next to Victor before flaring at Buggy. "Hey there…Big Nose."_

_"How do ya do, ya old biddy?" Buggy shot back with disdain._

_Big Mom laughed. "Bwowowowo, I'm doing fine, thankee for asking. May I ask though, what you young men are doing?"_

_"Drinking game," Shanks said quickly, still staring at Victor as he came back with two more filled glasses._

_Big Mom turned to Buggy. "What number they on?"_

_"Twelfth."_

_Big Mom grinned, saying sardonically, "And they're already _this_ wasted? Pfft, you boys don't know how to hold your liquor at all!"_

_"Yeah right," Victor said, waving his hand in a strange and off-beat motion towards her. "And what would the helmswoman doubling as a ship nurse know about this, Leila?"_

_"I'd like to remind you this _'ship nurse'_ can also bury you in a landslide if you don't change your tone," Big Mom said fearlessly. "Anyways, I bet I can beat both you boys easily."_

_Both Shanks and Victor laughed, neither believing her. "Yeah right!"_

_The challenge was on._

_After their sixteenth drink, both Shanks and Victor fell on their backs, no longer able to keep their coordination. Big Mom made it to her twentieth and was still strong, though. After downing said drink, she smashed the glass down on the table and laughed at the two fallen pirates._

_"Bwowowo, I guess I win after all. Better luck next time, boys."_

_"Shanks…we really are pathetic, aren't we?" Victor asked._

_"Yep…"_

_Big Mom was about to get up when the entire ship started to rumble. Everyone immediately stopped partying and began to look around in a confused manner. Soon enough, Silvers Rayleigh came down into the dining hall and ordered, "On deck, all of you! I don't care how drunk ya are! Move it!"_

_Everyone quickly scurried up the stairs (Shanks and Victor were slowed due to their alcohol intake, though). They entered the deck of the ship to see everyone piling around Roger as the rumbling only got worse._

_"Remember last time we crossed this area and we saw a massive stream of water shoot up?" he asked his crew with a massive grin on his face._

_They all agreed to this statement._

_"Well," explained their captain, "it looks like we're directly under one right now, and we're about to get shot up ourselves!"_

_Buggy's mouth opened wide as he asked, "What? Isn't there something we can do, captain?"_

_"Nope," answered Rayleigh fearlessly. "We're rooted to the spot due to this incessant rumbling. Look at it this way, though, it'll be a fun experience to look back on!"_

_"My ass! Not if we're dead!" yelled Buggy._

_The Knock-Up Stream erupted, sending the ship and the entire crew flying through the air, everyone screaming and trying to stay as low as possible…_

— — —

_"I must be more drunk than I thought…" Victor muttered to Shanks, as they (and the entire crew) peered over the edge of the ship to see that they were floating on white clouds._

_"If you are, then I must be too, 'cause I'm seeing the exact same thing," replied Shanks._

_Smiling from ear-to-ear, Roger said, "This must be the legendary Sky Island that exists in legend! How fortunate we are to see it on our journey!"_

_The ship floated restlessly (and slightly damaged from the flight upwards) down the white sea, before finally stopping in front of the Heaven's Gate. There, a small and elderly Skypiean appeared to the side of the ship as it stopped right in front of the gate._

_"My name is Amazon," she explained. "And if you want to get through Heaven's Gate without becoming criminals, you have to pay the sum of 1,000,000,000 extols."_

_"1,000,000,000?" cried Rayleigh in an incredulous tone. "Are you insane?"_

_Big Mom eyed the Skypiean and asked, "What's an extol anyway?"_

_Angel ignored these questions, saying only, "It's 1,000,000,000 extols to get in. If you don't pay, you'll be found as criminals."_

_"I say fuck it, men," Roger said, pulling his pistol out. "We're pirates and criminals anyways. Why should we have to pay so much money?"_

_Angel clearly became frightened as she shrunk back and seemed to press a dial on her table, though not saying anything. Before Roger could even aim his pistol at her, a flying horse flew from the sky and landed on their ship._

_"A Pegasus now?" Victor asked. "I _must_ be hallucinating."_

_An elderly looking, yet still healthy looking man jumped off the horse and gripped his lance. He was wearing an old-fashioned looking suit of armor, and he quickly approached Roger._

_"I'm here to respond to the danger sent from Amazon's 'Emergency Dial,' " he explained. "So I will ask, who exactly are you?"_

_"My name's Gol D. Roger, known as the Scourge of Civilization, and it should be known that I don't suffer fools lightly."_

_The old man held his ground (even tightening his grip on his lance), and said, "Well my name is Gan Fall, God of Skypiea and Knight of the Sky, and I'll have you know that I don't suffer fools equally as well!"_

_The standoff then ensued._

_Victor leaned over to Shanks and asked with a small hiccup, "Are you seeing all this too, or am I just passed out drunk and dreaming?"_

* * *

Off to a bit of a rough start on Skypiea...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	133. Romance Down 3: Sky to City

A battle with the God of Skypiea... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**133: Romance Down 3- Sky to City**

_Gan Fall—God of Skypiea and Knight of the Sky—rushed towards the would-be Pirate King Gol D. Roger with his lance still gripped into his hand. The entire Roger Pirate Crew cheered at their captain, as Gan Fall got closer._

_"Take this!" he roared, thrusting his lance forward._

_Roger didn't even break a sweat as he neatly side-stepped the attack and used his own sword to slash Gan Fall's shoulder, causing him to drop to his knees. Another roaring cheer burst out. Roger turned around to the fallen God and smiled lazily._

_"You're pretty good, but you're still leagues away from posing a challenge to me," he said with absolute confidence in his voice, "though you look like you've been through your own fair share of fights, old timer."_

_Gritting his teeth together, Gan Fall leapt up high in the sky, yelling, "The people of Skypiea won't stand for rapscallions like yourself!"_

_He swung his arm back while holding the lance. With a massive grunt, he threw it straight down at Roger. Not even bothering to move, he swung his sword in front of him in an arcing motion to knock the lance effortlessly aside. Unfortunately, Roger was distracted as Gan Fall landed neatly back onto the deck right in front of the unprotected Roger._

_"Now you'll taste the true power of the sky," he said as he held his gauntlet right in front of Roger's chest. "Impact!"_

_The force of the blow struck the surprised Roger square in his chest. Letting out a small grunt of pain, he was sent wind-milling backwards and landed on his back near the front of the ship._

_Victor's eyes widened at this, as the Roger Pirate's cheering stopped. His captain had been floored—something he'd never seen before. He was about to move forward (along with a handful of other pirates) in order to help his captain, when two arms were put in front of him. They belonged to Rayleigh and Big Mom._

_"Easy, there," the first mate said in a calm voice. "No need to get upset."_

_Victor was taken slightly aback. "That guy just used…_something_ to knock the captain back, and he's not moving, and you say we shouldn't get upset?"_

_Even though the alcohol was still in his system (and probably was clouding his better judgment), his head was clear on this issue, and he wanted to help Roger as soon as possible._

_Big Mom, who would normally be the first to try and help out Roger, let out a small snort of disdain. "Don't underestimate the captain. There's no way something like that could stop him."_

_Gan Fall used his lance to support himself and was panting heavily, staring at Roger, who was still grounded. Then, surprisingly to everyone (save for Rayleigh and Big Mom), laughter began to come from Roger, who was still not moving. It was small at first, but slowly and surely began to grow into great sweeping gales of laughter._

_Gan Fall twitched slightly, but didn't say anything, simply watching as Roger began to sit up._

_The captain of the Roger Pirates scratched the back of his head and looked directly at Gan Fall. "_Man! _That sure was something. What exactly was that attack you used on me?"_

_Gan Fall blinked in confusion. It was as if all ill-will was removed from this man as soon as he struck him. Unsure of what to do, he said, "Uh…it was what we call an Impact Dial. We store up energy we've gathered over time and release it all in one burst." He removed his gauntlet to show him. "See?"_

_Roger was up now and began to walk towards him. He stared at the gadget with endless fascination, saying, "Remarkable! What technology the sky-folk have!"_

_Gan Fall's hardened gaze began to soften. He looked at Amazon and asked, "Why exactly did you used the Emergency Dial for these people?"_

_Amazon looked at them and said bluntly, "They refused to pay the entrance fee!"_

_Roger looked at Gan Fall and said, "1,000,000,000 berries for anything is a bit too much, don'tcha think?"_

_Gan Fall eyed him quizzically. "Berries? We only take payment in extols, I'm afraid."_

_"Well that would be fine if we knew what an extol was and how much it—" started Rayleigh._

_"Although if you want to exchange your berries for extols," continued Gan Fall, "the official exchange rate is 10,000 extols for every berry."_

_No one spoke for several seconds. Then, after a bit of mental calculation, Gold Roger let out another laugh. "100,000 berries? That sounds like a much more reasonable price to me. What do you guys think?"_

_The Roger Pirates began to laugh in agreement. Roger sheathed his sword and held his hand out in front of Gan Fall. "Sorry about our little scuffle. I said I don't suffer fools well, but it's clear you're not a fool. I hope you'll forgive us."_

_Gan Fall happily grasped Roger's hand and said with a smile, "You should be forgiving _us_ for this misunderstanding. As an apology, I'll waive your fee completely."_

_"But, Gan Fall—" Amazon began to protest._

_Gan Fall gave her one harsh glance and she kept quiet. Roger kept his grin and replied in a cheerful tone. "Don't worry about it. It was all just a big misunderstanding. Though if you really want to make it up to us, you can show us around the island."_

_Gan Fall nodded, then bowed, saying, "It would be my honor to show you around."_

_"Oh, and, uh…" Roger continued, "telling us how to leave here as well so we can get back into the ocean would also be appreciated."_

_"Of course," replied Gan Fall._

— — —

_The Roger Crew docked their ship at Angel's Beach. After getting off the ship, some of the pirates wanted to relax on the beach. Those that wished to stay, did, while the rest of the pirates (including Roger, Rayleigh, Big Mom, Shanks, and Victor, with Buggy and Crocus opting to stay) followed Gan Fall into the town._

_"I'll show you the most visited area of Skypiea," Gan Fall said in the lead. "It's called Lovely Street."_

_"Sounds good to me," Roger said._

_They got there, and the pirates were taken aback at how lovely Lovely Street truly was. Several stores lined the streets, while Gan Fall led them to the one he thought they would enjoy the most. It was called "All Dials and Essentials."_

_"This is where you'll find Skypiea's finest dials," explained Gan Fall as they walked in._

_The store was massive and the walls were lined with several different types of dials. The pirates let out an audible gasp as Gan Fall chuckled, walking in. The God of Skypiea strode up to the store owner and wrenched his thumb back at the browsing Roger Pirates._

_"Give them whatever they want," he said. "On the house."_

_The owner only nodded, knowing he couldn't refuse God's orders._

_Victor, of course, went straight to the section labeled "Battle Dials." He mostly saw Flame Dials, and a few Axe Dials ("Hot Import Item" it said underneath). He went towards the Impact Dials, though, and picked one up, holding it thoughtfully and inspecting it._

_Shanks appeared behind him, saying, "Hey, Victor, look at this. They have dials that are capable to recording sounds! Isn't that something?"_

_Victor looked as Shanks held a Tone Dial, pushing a button that allowed it to play music. Victor was amazed at the technology, but held the Impact Dial out in front of Shanks. "This is what let the old man get the better of the captain. A lot of power sure can be contained in this."_

_Shanks shrugged. "Probably. Not that we really need it anyways…Unless you think you need a little extra boost in your attack power, eh, Victor?"_

_"Of course not, idiot," shot back Victor quickly. He put the Impact Dial back. "I was about to suggest that you should use it!"_

_Shanks laughed, saying, "Whatever. Come on over here, there're a lot more interesting dials that we can bring back with us."_

_The Roger Crew bought several dials (at least one of each available in the store), while Gan Fall looked at them with an approving grin. When they were about to leave, he said, "Tell ya what, I'll show you a place very special in Skypiea—so special not many are allowed to enter."_

_"We'd be honored to go," Rayleigh said with a smile. _

_Gan Fall nodded, saying, "Good. Then let's get back to your ship. We're gonna have to take the Milky Road to get there."_

_The Roger Pirates exited "All Dials and Essentials" quickly, excited by their next venture. _

_Although Victor never used an Impact Dial in a battle, he never quite forgot the look, feel, and function of one…_

— — —

_Roger's ship flew up the Milky Road, much to the surprise of the entire crew._

_"It's powered using the clouds and wind," explained Gan Fall as they flew upwards. "It's the quickest way to get to the Upper Yard!"_

_"Ya don't say?" Roger roared back over the sound of the wind rushing past them._

_They quickly landed in the Upper Yard, where they were surprised to see actual earth and soil (along with trees and wildlife, to boot) in this section of the sky island. They docked their ship at the port, and every Roger Pirate followed Gan Fall towards where he was leading them._

_"It's the pride and joy of our island," he beamed. "It's quite a sight to behold."_

_Victor leaned over towards Shanks and whispered, "This old man must be pretty trusting, allowing outsider pirates like us to see their 'most valuable treasure.' "_

_"Nah," shot back Shanks. "It's just that Gan Fall trusts Roger."_

_"Already?" asked an incredulous Victor. "He just met him!"_

_Shanks shrugged his shoulders. "Doesn't matter. The captain seems to have the power to make friends and allies with anyone he wants. It's pretty amazing, actually."_

_Victor pondered for a second, and wondered if that's the reason he took a liking to Roger so quickly after just joining his crew…_

— — —

_"Here it is, the Shandorian Golden Belfry," Gan Fall said, "the pride of Skypiea."_

_It truly was a remarkable sight. The bell was _massive_, and its gold gleamed in the sun. The pirates stared at it with wonder. "Wow…" Rayleigh said to Roger right next to him._

_The captain turned to his first mate and grinned. "I'm glad we didn't miss this!"_

_" 'Keep thy motives in heart, with closed mouth,' " said Gan Fall, reading off the inscription. " 'We are those who will weave history with the Ringing of the Great Belfry.' It means that we only ring the bell on momentous occasions. Not many Skypieans see this bell. You should be honored."_

_"I assure you, we are," said Roger._

_Then, the captain saw something beneath the bell. He walked closer to it, and his eyes widened in amazement. "It's a Poneglyph," he said._

_"Here?" asked Rayleigh. "Really?"_

_The pirates gathered around in surprise. "I know we haven't found all the Poneglyphs yet," Big Mom said, "but I never knew there was one here."_

_"It's been here as long as anyone can remember," Gan Fall explained. "Though we've yet to come across anyone who can read it."_

_Roger put his hand on the Poneglyph of Shandora and read off of it. " 'The mighty ship known as Poseidon, which can cause a cataclysmic amount of destruction, can be located on the centermost isle of the Vespian Isles. This is let known to you in respect for the memory of all the members of the Kailai Tribe that gave up their life—especially our brave leader Coria…' "_

_"You can read it?" asked Gan Fall with amazement in his voice._

_Roger looked at the Knight of the Sky and said, "I have a rudimentary understanding of the language, yes…though I'd be the first to admit I can mistranslate some of the time. Although this one seems pretty clear and basic—almost as if the person who wrote it just learned the language."_

_Victor was just as surprised as Gan Fall that Roger could read Poneglyphs. He'd heard of them, but he never knew anyone who could actually read them. And the information about the Poseidon was held interesting to Victor, who mentally remembered where it was located. The Vespian Isles._

_Gol D. Roger took out a small engraving tool from his pocket and looked at Gan Fall. "Do you mind if I put something on here?"_

_Gan Fall shook his head. "As long as it doesn't obscure what's said on it, I don't really mind."_

_"I wouldn't do that out of honor of those from the Ancient Kingdom," replied Roger. "I'm just going to put a little message on it, encouraging all who find it to continue looking for the Poneglyphs, kind of like what we're doing."_

_Rayleigh chuckled, saying, "Although it's somewhat secondary to just exploring all the islands and having fun."_

_Roger finished inscribing his message. Gan Fall urged that they should leave the place, and after getting back from the Upper Yard, the pirates restocked on supplies and decided it was time to leave._

— — —

_"Uhh…am I the only one concerned about this ride back down to the ocean?" Buggy asked the crew._

_Shanks, Victor, and Crocus shrugged, all three saying, "Yeah, probably."_

_"WHY IS THAT?" Buggy roared back. "We're on a place called Cloud's End, and this island is thousands of feet above the ocean! How are we gonna get down?"_

_Rayleigh appeared behind Buggy and said, "Just trust Gan Fall, Buggy. It should work out fine."_

_"Just keep heading straight forward, and you'll be in the ocean in no time!" the God of Skypiea yelled._

_"We will!" Roger roared back. "Thanks for everything Gan Fall, we really appreciate it! We hope to see you again sometime!"_

_Gan Fall smiled, saying, "And I as well! Goodbye, my friends!"_

_"Goodbye!"_

_With that, the ship dropped off of Cloud's End, plummeting into deep fall._

_"What the fuck?" Roger immediately asked as they began falling._

_Buggy quickly dropped to the floor, screaming hysterically, "We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die!"_

_Not before long, though, an octopus leapt out of the clouds and grabbed onto the ship, inflating itself like a hot air balloon, slowing down the ships velocity immensely. "Phew…" Big Mom said with a gasp. "I thought we were gonna die for a second there."_

_The octopus lead them to where they could see the blue ocean beneath them again. Roger looked up at the octopus and said, "Thanks, Mr. Octopus. Without you, we certainly would have died!"_

_The octopus responded by letting go of the ship and letting them drop with a good portion of air between them and the ocean, causing all the pirates to scream in horror again._

_"YOU DAMN OCTOPUS!" Roger yelled as it began to deflate and follow them downward. _

_Victor gripped the side of the ship and said, "I wish I was drunk again already. This shit is too much to take right now!"_

_The ship hit the water with a splash, causing a recoil on the deck that everyone felt. As soon as the octopus landed, both Roger and Rayleigh kicked it into the ocean together in a fit of rage._

_After everyone settled down, the captain looked at his pirates and said, "Well, boys, that went well, eh? Who would've thought getting caught up in the Knock-Up Stream accidently could be so much fun?"_

_His crew only muttered back, clearly not in the mood. Roger was about to speak, when he heard a disheartening creaking sound beneath him. He turned over to look at the side of the ship and saw that it had taken massive damage, and was in need of repair fast._

_He quickly looked to his first mate and said, "Uhh…Rayleigh, where's the closest place we can to repair our ship?"_

_Rayleigh quickly took out a map and put it on the deck, everyone gathering around him to see. Silvers traced his finger around it before finally landing on the spot he wanted. "It's called Water 7. It's not too far away, and it's world-renowned for its shipwrights."_

_Roger grinned widely and took a step forward, pointing ahead of him and declaring: "Then that's where we're going next!"_

* * *

Off to get a new ship!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	134. Romance Down 4: The Ship of Dreams

After their trip from Skypiea... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**134: Romance Down 4- The Ship of Dreams**

_The ride to Water 7 was not a particularly easy one._

_The ship the Roger Pirates were riding on had taken heavy damage from both its trip up to, and down from Skypiea. The Roger Pirate's shipwright, Doran (known as Doran the Berserker due to his bloodthirsty attitude when fighting) had long black hair that he kept in a ponytail, yet still let some hair fall onto his forehead as bangs. Personally, Victor had never seen his eyes, as he always wore dark sunglasses and always had his shipwright axe strapped to his back._

_Doran was not in a happy mood when he emerged onto the deck again, looking dirty and tired. Roger eyed him and asked, "Problems?"_

_"This old hulk might not even make it to Water 7," Doran explained. "The hull has too many cracks to count and could be made to splinters anytime. And if that happened…" He made a motion moving his index finger across his neck._

_Roger surprisingly laughed, and said, "Ah, I trust this old ship to take us safely."_

_"Maybe if we weren't so weighed down with treasure, we might survive," suggested Big Mom. "After all, it's putting an unnecessary amount of strain on the ship."_

_Roger looked stunned. "Give up my treasure? Never! What kind of self-respecting pirate would I be if I threw away all of the wealth I've accumulated over my pirating life?"_

_"It seems better than dying," was all Big Mom shot back with._

_"Regardless," Doran said, trying to get everyone back on track, "we have to get to Water 7 as fast as possible. If not, we could all die."_

_Roger laughed again, saying, "Good thing most of us can swim then."_

_"Hey!" both Buggy and Big Mom said at the same time. "That's not very comforting!"_

_Rayleigh eyed the log pose and said, "She'll hold, don't worry. And if I may suggest captain, we should use some of this vast amount of wealth to buy a ship that won't ever break on us, regardless of what we put it through."_

_"I completely agree, Silvers," Roger said. "Now let's stop talking about serious business like ships sinking and have some fun, like pirates are supposed to have!"_

_Doran muttered, "Easy for you to say when your jobs not to keep the ship together…"_

_Just then, the ring of a cannon burst out, sending a pillar of water up near the Roger Pirate's ship. Everyone was immediately in action, as a pirate in the crow's nest yelled, "It's the Marines! There's a marine ship closing in nearby!"_

_"It's been a while since we've met up with our old friends, wouldn'tcha say, Silvers?" Roger asked his first mate._

_Rayleigh nodded, drawing his sword. "How about we remind them why they shouldn't be hunting us in the first place?"_

_Roger shook his head as another cannonball flew too close for comfort to the ship. "I have a feeling there won't be that much fighting today…"_

— — —

_Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp had an incurable grin on his face as his marine vessel drew closer to Roger's ship. "Pull 'er in close!" he roared to his men. "We've gotta get close enough to sink the ship and capture Roger!"_

_The marines let out a roar as the ship drew closer to Roger's ship. Surprisingly, Roger's ship drew in closer as well, and soon enough, they were side-by-side with each other: Gol D. Roger standing on one side, with Monkey D. Garp standing on the opposite side, both grinning like the devil._

_"Been a while, eh, Garp?" asked the Scourge of Civilization._

_Garp didn't seem fazed by the future-Pirate King's presence, simply crossing his arms over his broad chest and saying, "Today's the day I capture you for sure, Roger!"_

_The Roger Pirate's gathered behind their captain, as the marines did to Garp. Both were perfectly across from each other, perfect positions for cannons to strike. As if they knew by instinct, they both yelled at the same time._

_"Fire!"_

_"Fire the cannons!"_

_An enveloping wave of sound came next, as both ships fired off all their cannons, each cannonball successfully striking the other's ship. Roars came from both sides as neither gave up; they both simply continued their unrelenting assault._

_After several more seconds, Roger yelled to his men, "Abandon ship! Get off on the other side to safety!"_

_Garp, who's ship was in heavy damage, took this as a sign of victory, saying, "Keep firing! Sink the Roger Pirates!"_

_Despite the cannon-fire, the Roger Pirates managed to successfully get off on dinghies towards the other side of the ship. Some eager marines were ready to jump onto the ship, but Garp halted them on the spot._

_"No, it's not safe to get on there," was all he said._

_Before the marines could ask what he meant, the Roger's ship erupted in a pillar of flames, letting out an explosion so large it sent Garp's ship reeling back and cracking under the strain (not to mention with the added stress of several cannonball-sized holes in its side)._

_Once the explosion took its course and the flames happily licked across the old ship, Garp just stared at it, his arms still crossed, a furrowed brow on his face._

_"That resourceful son of a bitch…"_

_"Sir?" a marine asked._

_Garp motioned towards the ship. "I could tell since the beginning that his ship wasn't in its prime condition—it must've taken some heavy damage since the last time I saw it. However, I never would have thought Roger would be crazy enough to line the ship with gunpowder so that it would go off on its own with the aid of our cannons!"_

_"Sir, if I may ask," questioned the same marine, "why would he do that?"_

_"Because Roger likes sending things off in a grand fashion," answered Garp without hesitation. "Not to mention that we're no longer able to pursue him due to the ship in our way and the damage we've sustained…Looks like he got away again."_

_Garp continued to stare as the ship began to sink, the flames still roaring across it._

_The Vice-Admiral turned to his marines and said, "Mark my words. The next time we see Roger, he'll have an even stronger ship under his command!"_

— — —

_The Roger Pirates washed up on the shore of Longring Longland._

_The entire crew managed to make it, and they all were resting on the sands of the island. Roger, however, was sitting up and laughing boastfully. "What a show, eh, boys?"_

_"You call _that_ a show?" questioned Doran. "All we did was blow up our own ship, and the force of the explosion even destroyed our dinghies, forcing us to swim the rest of the way here. Real smooth escape plan, I must say, captain…"_

_Shanks was busy pushing hard down on Buggy's chest, trying to get the water out of him, while Victor slapped him in the side of his face several times to try and wake him up. "Good thing we don't have many Devil Fruit-users with us," Shanks commented, this time punching on Buggy's chest, causing him to jump up violently and with pain._

_Roger looked over at Rayleigh and commented, "They just don't understand. To send off our trusty ship like that any other way would have been an insult. Aye, she did us proud, and it was time for her to rest."_

_"Though that still leaves the problem of us getting to Water 7, now," Big Mom cut in, trying to get all the saltwater off of her._

_Roger laughed a bit more, saying, "Don't worry about that, boys. I'm sure fate will smile on us sooner or later. For now, try and enjoy the beauty of this island."_

_Victor noticed an incredibly long dog walking by in the distance. He simply raised an eyebrow and decided not to comment on it. He kept thinking about something the captain said earlier._

("give up my treasure? never! what kind of self-respecting pirate would I be if I threw away all of the wealth I've accumulated over my pirating life?")

_Yet he was so quick to abandon it (most of it, anyways, as it turned out Roger brought some gold with him) when he found out his men's lives were in danger. It must've been hard for him to let go, but Victor knew that deep down, Roger had his priorities in line…_

_Soon enough, driftwood and pieces of their dinghies and destroyed ship began to wash up on the shore. Roger picked up a sizeable piece and then turned back to his men, grinning._

_"Boys, I think I got an idea…"_

— — —

_"Remind me when we get to Water 7, to kill the captain, please," Shanks said to Victor._

_Victor scoffed, saying, "You won't have to worry about it; I'll do it myself."_

_"Hahahahaha, keep rowing, ya bastards! I can't even see Water 7 in the distance!"_

_Gol D. Roger was standing in the front of a rather large piece of driftwood that Shanks, Victor, Buggy, and Crocus occupied. Around them, all of the Roger Pirates were split up, and all were riding on the driftwood that washed ashore, each with two men "rowing" so that they could get further in the sea._

_Victor and Shanks were the unfortunate rowers (on account of Buggy's Devil Fruit and Crocus's turn just being relieved), but they didn't have an actual row. No, instead they just used their hands, paddling away at the water furiously to try and get the piece of wood to move (although the tides did help some)._

_Roger looked over at Rayleigh, who was leading another group of pirates and yelled, "Isn't this just the pirate life, Silvers?"_

_"You got that right, captain," agreed Rayleigh._

_"I hate you all…" Victor and Shanks muttered at the same time._

_Roger didn't seem to hear them, yelling, "Come on, ya bastards! Row harder! We gotta try and get there before nightfall, or else we'll _really _be in trouble!"_

— — —

_"Tom, the new ship design has finally come in."_

_The large long-horned cowfish fishman looked at his mermaid assistant Kokoro from his work desk. "Is that so? Well, let me take a look."_

_Kokoro handed the blueprint to Tom as he laid it out on his desk. Kokoro traced her finger across it, saying, "As you can see, the new design is streamlined for maximum speed. Also, with the addition of the third mast in the back, it should be able to—"_

_"Boring!" drawled Tom, picking up the blueprint and throwing it over his shoulder._

_Kokoro looked at him in shock, and immediately went back to pick up the blueprint. "What do you mean 'boring'? This is the design we're going to use for our new shipment of Adam Wood."_

_"It's not worthy of using such precious wood," Tom said, going back to drawing his own blueprint of his perfect ship—the ship he would hope to use the Adam Wood for._

_Kokoro's face softened as she tried to sound rational. "Look, Tom, our company—aptly named _Tom's _Workers for a reason—is hard-pressed for cash due to the hard times Water 7 has fallen under. Now this is the ship design that the World Nobles would like you to design them using the Adam Wood we have. If we make this ship, they should be able pay us a hefty sum. Enough, even, to expand our company and build even greater ships later."_

_"Those Noble fools wouldn't know what to do with a ship like that," Tom said, still focused on his blueprint. "I want the ship that's going to be made with the Adam Wood to be made with a don! If I make this ship, my heart won't be in it, and the ship will suffer."_

_Kokoro sighed, and was about to argue, when she heard the door open behind her. She turned around and smiled, saying, "Hello, welcome to Tom's Workers shipbuilding. What can we do for you?"_

_She walked over to the counter of the shop just in time to see a few gold coins flick across it with a metallic clang. She looked up to see a soaking wet Gol D. Roger standing there._

_"I want you to build us the strongest ship in the world."_

_Tom was surprised by the man's tone of voice and immediately turned around, got up from his chair, and walked over to the counter. Kokoro counted the gold Roger threw on the counter._

_"Unfortunately, the amount of gold you've given us isn't enough for you to even buy a dinghy. I'm sorry, but you'll have to try somewhere else."_

_Roger looked straight at Tom—not Kokoro—and said with a massive and confident grin, "Just put the rest on my treasure tab…"_

— — —

_It was well into the night by the time the Roger Pirate's drifted (which is the proper word to describe it) onto Water 7 with their pitiful planks. Contrary to the popular belief of Victor, Shanks, and Buggy, the driftwood held out and they landed on the shore of the island exhausted._

_Not wasting any time, Captain Roger immediately set out into town, the rest of his crew being forced to follow him. They asked around (more like Roger forced people to talk, Victor noticed) and soon found out that the best shipwrights on the island belonged to Tom's Workers. Roger then set out to find their ship, not wanting to waste any time._

_They found it soon enough, and only Roger and Rayleigh went inside, leaving everyone else standing around and resting outside._

_Victor leaned against the building adjacent to the one marked "Tom's Workers Shipwrights (Best Quality Guaranteed)" and stared up at the night sky without much thought. Captain Roger completely perplexed Victor. He was fun-loving and loved to brawl just as much as Victor, yet he showed restraint when he needed. He was cruel and calculating to his enemies, yet was completely kind to his own crew. Victor had never met a man like that before, and he knew that with each growing day, he learned something new about Roger that made him respect the man even more._

_The newest fact was that apparently Roger can sweet-talk anyone into doing anything, as his captain exited the store with Silvers with as broad a grin on his face as he had entering inside._

_"They'll start on a new ship sometime tomorrow," he said with a large, boisterous laugh. "And the real kicker is that this ship's going to be made of Adam Wood!"_

_Everyone could tell Doran's eyes widened at this. "The legendary wood that's indestructible?"_

_"The same."_

_Everyone immediately started muttering and talking amongst themselves. Victor simply sat back and watched, his eyes gleaming with newfound respect to Roger. He went in there with probably less than 10,000 berries worth of gold, and was able to get the world's greatest shipwright to make a ship for him—with Adam Wood, to boot._

_Just how did he do it?_

— — —

_"Why are you doing it, Tom?" Kokoro asked, as the shipwright as back at his desk and working hard on his blueprint. "Have you completely gone insane—offering to build that man a ship for free."_

_Tom was furiously writing on the paper, as if he had found some new inspiration for his ultimate ship to make out of Adam Wood. _

_"Answer me!" demanded Kokoro._

_"It's hard to explain," Tom responded calmly. "But seeing that man, and carrying out our brief conversation, I could tell that _he_ was the man worthy of using my best ship design—of using the Adam Wood. He says he'll pay us back when he's gotten his wealth back, but it's not even about that…I can just tell that that man does everything he sets his mind to with a don!"_

_Kokoro shook her had and said, "I think you really have lost your mind…"_

_"Tahahahaha, maybe I have," laughed Tom. "Don't worry about it, Kokoro. Now I ask you: will you stand behind me and help me build my own ship of dreams for that man?"_

_After several seconds, and a sigh from Kokoro, she finally said, "Yes, I will."_

_Tom let out another large bout of laughter. "Mark my words, Kokoro. That man will go far in life, and my ship will be the one to help him on his travels. Now I just need to finish the design with a don, so I can start on it first thing in the morning!"_

* * *

The design begins!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	135. Romance Down 5: Speed Up or Ship Out

The reveal of their newest "crewmate." Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**135: Romance Down 5- Speed Up or Ship Out**

_It took one whole week to make the new ship._

_When Tom let them know that it was finished as soon as he could, and it was reaching midday when the Roger Pirates gathered around the covered ship. Tom and Kokoro stood at the front of the ship, while Roger and Rayleigh approached it. Over the last week, the three had become good friends, and were on good terms with one another._

_"Roger Pirates," Tom finally announced, "it is my extreme pleasure to let you know that your ship—my dream ship—is finally complete. It is already fully stocked and made easy to navigate, not to mention the fact that it's made of Adam Wood, granting near invincibility. So…without further ado, I give you, the _Oro Jackson_!"_

_The sheet used to cover it was ripped off in a flash, and the entire crew gazed at the ship with wonder. "Oh wow…" Victor couldn't help but mutter. Internally, he wished Bennett was here to gaze upon its beauty._

_The ship was larger than their old one, and painted red and gold from head to toe. The three large masts held up massive red sails, the first of which was emblazoned with their Jolly Roger—their brand as pirates. At the fore of the ship, there was a cannon protruding forward, with a mermaid on both sides of it._

_Roger's eyes visibly widened, as Doran took off his signature sunglasses, rubbed them thoroughly, then put them back on, as if he didn't believe what he truly saw._

_"Tom, it's amazing!" Rayleigh proclaimed._

_"Tahahaha, she better be!" roared Tom. "She is my dream ship, after all. Now, who's the navigator and shipwright? I have a few things I want to teach you."_

_Big Mom and Doran stepped forward as Tom engaged the group in conversation. Victor looked at Shanks and Buggy, both who were equally amazed at the ship. "How's this for the ultimate ship, eh?" Shanks couldn't help but ask._

_"It would be nice to own one some day…" Victor answered back. _

_Before everyone knew it, the entire crew boarded the ship and was about to set sail. Roger leaned over the side of the ship and waved at Tom. "Thank you!" he yelled. "We appreciate everything you've done! Just wait, one day I'll pay you back in full!"_

_"Just sail around the seas with it and become famous, that's all I ask!" Tom yelled back with another laugh. "Good luck on your adventures!"_

_Roger nodded, and the _Oro Jackson_ took off, departing from the shipyard and away from Water 7, Tom and Kokoro waving in the distance._

_When the ship was not but a dot on the horizon, Tom looked at Kokoro. "You think the ship's in good hands, now?"_

_Kokoro nodded. "Aye, the Adam Wood was much better used on these young rogues than on the World Nobles. Though we'll have to come up with an excuse as to why we can't build them a ship anymore."_

_"Ah, who cares?" laughed Tom. "They'll just have to take the news with a don!"_

_Kokoro sighed and smiled. "I suppose so…"_

_The Roger Pirates celebrated all day and well into the night on their new ship—their new crewmate—and continued along their journey on the Grand Line._

— — —

_The remainder of the year—1496 AOS—passed by into the year 1497 in a blur (though the exact timeline was impossible to remember when you're having a good time, Victor found). On their new ship, the _Oro Jackson_, the Roger Pirates traversed the remainder of the first half of the Grand Line (called "Paradise" by many pirates)._

_Knowing this to be his last journey, though, Gol D. Roger makes it a point to go to every island the Grand Line has to offer. There, they befriended (or made enemies of) all sorts of people, pillaged and plundered several villages (to get their lost wealth back), confronted Monkey D. Garp several more times (only to have it end in ties, like usual), and most importantly, found all the Poneglyphs the first half had to offer._

_Knowing full too well that Roger wasn't a master at reading the language the Ancient Kingdom, he went to go and meet the scholars of Ohara. There, they stayed for a few days, while Roger learned how to read the language more precisely._

_One day while on the island, Victor asked Rayleigh, "Why does Roger have such an interest in the Poneglyphs?"_

_Rayleigh looked at Victor like the answer should be obvious. "He likes history. That's all…"_

_Victor knew that was only partly truthful. He also knew that Roger liked "pissing" (in Roger's own words) the World Government off, and what better way to do that than to learn about the Void Century?_

_Once they departed from Ohara, they found all the remaining Poneglyphs on the Paradise Side of the Grand Line. After all the islands were thoroughly searched and examined by the Roger Pirates, they finally set their sights on the second half of the Grand Line—the New World._

— — —

_25 years ago/1497 AOS  
Sabaody Archipelago_

_"I said I'll coat the ship."_

_Roger, Big Mom, Crocus, Doran, Victor, Shanks, and Buggy stared at Silvers Rayleigh with doubt clearly on their faces. After a while, they all said collectively: "No thanks."_

_"Hey!" shouted an incredulous Rayleigh. "Why the hell not? I'm a damned good ship coater!"_

_Roger took a step away from the angered first mate and said, "I'm sure you are, but this is the first time we'd actually _trust_ you with such a task, and to be quite honest, I don't wanna die on our way to Fishman Island."_

_Everyone around Roger nodded at this statement. "No hard feelings, Rayleigh," Shanks said._

_"But with the new ship and all…" Doran added._

_"We just don't wanna die," said Victor bluntly._

_Silvers Rayleigh stormed away from the crew, muttering something about ship coating being a hobby of his (and a "damned good hobby" at that). Once he was out of earshot, Roger looked at his crew and smiled._

_"Men, we're off to the New World!"_

_The crew cheered._

_"As soon as we find someone trustworthy to coat our ship…" Doran couldn't help but mutter._

— — —

_3 years before the Great Age of Pirates  
The New World_

_"Wah! Captain, it's him again!" apprentice Buggy cried out when he saw the ship. "He's back, and this time I'm sure he's going to take our heads!"_

_They had passed through Fishman Island without trouble (although Rayleigh was still a bit sulky), and it seemed fairly eventless to Victor. The one thing that stuck in his mind, though, was the large flag that stuck out in the middle of Bubble One. A Jolly Roger, much like Roger's, except with a cross of bones instead of an "X," and a large crescent-shaped moustache instead of Roger's curly one._

_"Old man Whitebeard," Shanks said behind Victor, as he turned around and nodded. Victor knew the name well._

_Now, after passed through the first five islands in the New World and engaged in the Scattering Point, they saw a ship that Roger knew all-too-well, and Victor had only heard about in stories._

_The_ Moby Dick.

_The ship was bigger than the _Oro Jackson_, though not by much. Anyone self-respecting man who called himself a pirate knew who lived on that whale-looking vessel. Edward Newgate—Whitebeard._

_Despite the apprentice's cry, a smile crept up on Gol D. Roger's face. "About time I'd see you again, old friend…"_

_The _Moby Dick_ appeared right alongside the _Oro Jackson_, as both vessels stopped dead in their tracks, both captains appearing at the side to confront one another. Whitebeard was a large man, no doubt, with long blonde hair falling down under his bandana. In one hand he gripped his trademark bisento, and in the other he held a jug of sake. He took a swig and grinned at Roger._

_"Been a long time, eh, 'Scourge of Civilization'—now worth 500 million berries?"_

_Roger matched his grin and said, "Not bad, Edward 'Whitebeard' Newgate—worth 475 million berries. Do you think the Marines would be happy if I strolled in with you to collect that reward?"_

_"Gurarara, they'd capture you with me," scoffed Whitebeard. "Not that you'd be able to take me in anyways."_

_He took another swig of his alcohol and threw it onto Roger's deck, having it shatter as soon as it landed. Roger looked at it then looked back at his rival. "I think we know the drill…"_

_"Aye, every time we see each other, we have to fight," Whitebeard said._

_"No holds barred."_

_"Indeed."_

_Victor didn't know it at the time, but he was trembling. Here he was, right across from the legendary Whitebeard himself, the man who was said to be the only one to challenge Roger. Yet despite the fear—and it was fear inside of him—Victor also felt a rising sense of excitement. He might not survive this battle, but he would be damned if he went down without a fight!_

_Flexing his free arm and drawing it back, Whitebeard said, "Gurara, let's finally end it this time!"_

_Roger drew his sword, saying, "Sounds good to me!"_

_Whitebeard released a shockwave, while Roger released a powerful burst of Haki to counter it…_

— — —

_It was the morning after the battle, and the _Oro Jackson_ drifted onwards in their journey. It suffered surprisingly little damage, despite its scuffle with the _Moby Dick_. Victor sat against a wall on the deck of the ship, staring up at the morning sky and wondered why. He formulated his own theory that it was Roger's Haki—be it Haoshoku or Busoshoku, or any variation of the two—that protected the ship, much like how Whitebeard's flagship also suffered no damage, despite the cannons flying from both sides._

_Victor had miraculously survived the battle, but not without injury. He threw himself headlong into the battle, alongside Shanks (and Buggy as well), using his fists like a true brawler to take out several armed pirates. Fists didn't always work against steel, though, and he sustained a few nasty sword wounds. _

_He figured he should visit Big Mom (the resident nurse as well as the ship's navigator/helmswoman) about the injuries when he had the chance, but for now she was busy with a handful of other wounded pirates down in the infirmary._

_The theory persisted._

_Victor knew he had his own version of Haki, though he wasn't blessed with Haoshoku like the captain was. He wasn't very skilled with it, but found that he was more skilled with Busoshoku than Kenbunshoku. He would probably have to practice if he ever wanted to use it in a fight…_

_He looked across to see Berserker Doran on the other side of the deck, calmly smoking a cigarette as he wiped the blood off his shipwright's axe. Berserker was a truly fitting name for him, as he took no prisoners and no quarter during the battle._

_Victor saw some amazing things during that battle. The most remarkable of which was Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, and two of his pirates—a small one and a big one. The small one could turn into a phoenix, while the big one had the ability to turn into diamonds. Victor knew that if he went against him head-to-head in close-quarters combat, he would surely lose._

_Shanks opened the door leading to the inside of the _Oro Jackson_ that was right next to Victor with a bottle of grog in his hand. He spotted his friend and sat down next to him immediately._

_"Hey, Victor." He took a swig of the grog. "Whatcha think of your first real battle in the New World?"_

_There was no hesitation in his voice. "It was remarkable. The most exciting thing that I've ever participated in in my whole life."_

_Shanks laughed at this, and took another swig. "Aye, it's fun alright! That's what being a pirate's all about! Want some?" He held his bottle out to Victor, who refused immediately._

_" 'That's what being a pirate's all about,' eh?" repeated Victor. "I suppose that's the truth. I did join this crew to have fun, after all, and I guess that's what I got."_

_"And we're only halfway done," he said. "This time we're aiming straight to the top—straight to Raftel! Once that happens, the whole world will be forced to see Roger as the greatest pirate in the world."_

_Victor nodded, saying, "And he'd be deserving of it too. You see how he used his sword to clash with Whitebeard's massive bisento? That took courage."_

_Shanks took another swig of alcohol. A few seconds pass. Shanks finally says: "So didja hear the news?"_

_"What's that?" asked a confused Victor._

_Shanks set down the bottle and said, "During our battle, a few of our crewmates managed to get onboard the _Moby Dick_. They went quietly into his treasure room and were able to steal a sack fulla treasure!"_

_"More treasure?" asked a slightly-disappointed Victor. "That's nothing new."_

_Shanks grinned, saying, "Ahh, but _inside_ the vast amount of gold and jewels is a small treasure chest. Do you know what's inside of that chest, Victor?"_

_Victor understood what he was saying. "Devil Fruit."_

_"Aye," said Shanks. "Captain says whoever wants to eat it can, but after the whole Buggy fiasco with the Chop-Chop Fruit—a power he still has yet to master—no one's that keen on taking it."_

_"As they should be," Victor said. "Losing the ability to swim takes away your ability to be a pirate."_

_Shanks looked up at the sky, adjusting his straw hat, saying, "You're right. I wouldn't wanna eat a Devil Fruit, that's for sure."_

_"I'm sure someone will eat it in time," Victor said absently, looking up with him._

_Then, Gol D. Roger busted out from the door and looked to the side. He was bandaged himself, but that didn't stop his seemingly infinite vitality. "What the hell are you two sitting here for? Get up and start doing something! The day's only starting!"_

_Both Shanks and Victor jumped up immediately, both saying, "Aye-Aye, captain!"_

_They scurried off onto another section of the _Oro Jackson_, just as Roger saw the bottle of grog Shanks had. He looked at his apprentice and said, "Dammit, Shanks! I don't want you being drunk at 9:30 in the goddamned morning! We have work to do!"_

_Shanks recoiled a bit, only yelling back, "Aye-Aye, captain!"_

_Roger shook his head and kicked the bottle over the side of the ship. He then went onto the deck to take over navigating since Big Mom was busy._

_That was how the Roger Pirates began their journey to the Edd War, where they would meet an equally famous pirate that went by the name of Shiki the Golden Lion._

* * *

Off to that fated battle...

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	136. Romance Down 6: Two to the New World

Now in the second half of the Grand Line. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**136: Romance Down 6- Two to the New World**

_25 years ago/1497 AOS  
Edd War_

_Gol D. Roger coughed several times, letting out a wheezy and raspy breath in a long exhale._

_Crocus inspected him with a furrowed brow and his hand on his chin, rubbing it in contemplation. He put his stethoscope onto Roger's exposed back and ordered, "Breathe in, please…"_

_Roger did as he was told, and Crocus listened intently. After a few deep breaths, Roger stood up and looked at the doctor. "So what's happening?"_

_"Well you're not getting better, that's for damn sure," Crocus said bluntly. Roger expected this. "Whatever's gotcha is particularly nasty, and it's starting to move into your lungs. Now you don't have to be a trained doctor to know what that means."_

_Roger didn't lose his patience or his cool. "Just tell me how long I got 'til it beats me completely."_

_"No way to say for sure, since no one's ever seen this disease before," explained Crocus quickly, "but it's pretty slow moving, so I'd say a year—maybe two if you're lucky."_

_Roger let out a gruff chuckle. "Luck…that's one thing I got plenty of!" He then got serious, saying, "Hey, Doc, do you think I can—"_

_Several rapid knocks on his door interrupted him. "Captain! Captain! Come quickly, it's urgent!"_

_Roger quickly put his shirt on, looking back at Crocus. "That urgency can only mean one thing—battle. Think I'm able to fight, Doc?"_

_"I joined your crew to find out what happened to the Rumbar Pirates." Crocus's voice was serious. "But I still think of you as my captain, and as your doctor, _your_ health is my prime concern. And it would be foolish for me to tell you to fight recklessly, rather than to just relax and take it easy."_

_Several more knocks. Roger looked at Crocus, who surprisingly smiled._

_"But I also have gotten to know you pretty well this last year," he continued, "so I know that no matter what I tell you, you won't listen anyways."_

_Roger threw on his red captain's cloak. "Sounds about right…"_

_He opened the door to find Doran standing there. "Captain!" he said immediately. "We're being set upon!"_

_"By who?" asked the captain._

_There was no hesitation in his voice. "Shiki the Golden Lion! He's setting upon us with at least fifty battleships—all of 'em ready to sink us! He's demanding to talk to you."_

_"Sounds good…" There was a steady smile on Roger's face as he walked past Doran, Crocus following. "Get all the men on the deck at once. If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he'll get!"_

_It was just the answer Doran wanted. A creeping smile appeared on his face as he knew it was time for battle. "Aye-Aye, Captain!"_

— — —

_"…Captain Roger, our lives are more important! Just do as the Gold Lion asks for the time being!" a hapless and clearly frightened Buggy says._

_The sky was darkening overhead as Roger stepped on the deck of the _Oro Jackson_, staring at Shiki's flagship and surveying the number of ships and enemies._

_Shanks was surprisingly calm in all of this. He simply looked at Buggy, saying, "You can't die no matter how many times you get cut, so what do you care?"_

_"My power's still flawed, dumbass!" Buggy shot back. He saw Crocus appear behind him and turned towards him quickly. "That's it! Crocus, how is the captain doing? He shouldn't fight, should he? As his doctor, tell him he shouldn't do it!"_

_Crocus heaved his spear-gun, smiling, also interested in the idea of a fight. "Sorry, but the captain's in great shape!"_

("well you're not getting better, that's for damn sure," Crocus said bluntly)

_Doran grabbed Buggy's hat with his left hand, holding his trademark axe in his right. "Just give up," he advised. "We've been with Roger for ages and have never been able to stop him."_

_Buggy wouldn't give up, though. He quickly turned to the first mate, yelling, "Rayleigh!"_

_"Just have faith in Tom's ship, the _Oro Jackson_!" Silvers looked towards his captain's back as he stared down the Golden Lion, saying cryptically, "Roger's time is almost up…"_

_Victor D. Capere was silent during all of this, simply watching the processions coming on. Since his time on Roger's ship, he'd found that he was no longer surprised by things like this. They've taken on marine battalions that looked like this, and they always turned out on top. He was along the same line as Shanks in terms of excitement—a battle with a pirate was always more fun than with a marine!_

_Shiki looked down at Roger with a large grin and a cigar between his teeth. "How many times have we had this talk, Roger?" he exclaimed. "We've had our problems when we were young, but that's all water under the bridge now! You know the location of the weapon_

(Pluton, Poseidon, Apollo)

_that can destroy the world, and I've got the manpower! Plus, I've got a perfect plan that I've spent years working on; we'll be able to take over the world in no time! Be my right-hand man, Roger!"_

_Roger sighed, as if he's explained this a thousand times before. Then, he replied with: "I have no desire to 'take over the world,' Shiki! What good is a pirate if he can't do what he wants? You can pressure me all you want…" He stopped and took a deep _

(wheezy and raspy)

_breath, concluding his answer, roaring: _"…BUT I WILL STILL DECLINE YOUR OFFER, GOLDEN LION!"

_Every captain on the ship surrounding the _Oro Jackson_ either flinched in fear, or grinned in anticipation of finally killing the "Scourge of Civilization."_

_Buggy was hysterical now. "Stop it, captain! How many ships do you think there are?"_

_Rayleigh had enough of his noise and pushed him aside, saying, "Outta the way."_

_Shiki was no longer grinning, though the cigar still stayed in his teeth. "So your answer," he said, _"is that you wanna die today?"

_"No!" Roger proudly called back. "My answer is that I'm going to crush you all!"_

_The _Oro Jackson_ fired its forward cannon, hitting the fore of the closest ship—and next to Shiki's, to boot—sinking it instantly._

— — —

_The battle would be recorded throughout all of history, going on to be known as the Battle of Edd War. It seemed like Roger had all but lost, but with the full force of his crew backing him, he charged fearlessly into battle with a saber in one hand and a pistol in the other._

_The Roger Pirates were only saved by a sudden shift in the weather, which sunk half of Shiki's unfortunate fleet. Not only that, but a cannonball that struck Shiki's flagship sent the steering wheel of the ship flying and embedding itself on the back of Shiki's head, knocking him out instantly._

_The Roger Pirates escaped, and the battle was declared a draw._

_And all moved on as usual…_

— — —

_1497 AOS  
Marineford_

_Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp returned after the Battle of Edd War—along with Admiral Sengoku, of course—and they both immediately went to Fleet-Admiral Kong's room._

_Kong wasn't pleased, to say the least. He looked at the two as they sat down and asked, "So tell me what happened as quickly as possible."_

_"Well I'm sure you know all about it by now," Sengoku said calmly, "but both Roger and Shiki escaped."_

_Garp tilted backs slightly, adding, "Well, at least he was kind enough to take half of Shiki's fleet with him. That should make our jobs easier, right?"_

_"I think you two aren't taking this situation seriously enough," Kong said with a grimace. "We can leave Shiki be for the time being, but Roger's getting deeper into the New World, and this time he's headed for Raftel!"_

_"We know," Garp said listlessly. "What's your point?"_

_Kong took a deep breath to calm himself. "The point is that once Roger lands on Raftel, he'll be the most dangerous pirate in the world, and we can't have that happen."_

_"He's already the most dangerous pirate in the world," Garp said with annoyance._

_Sengoku agreed with Garp. "Why don't you tell us what you really think, Fleet-Admiral. You don't want Roger to reach Raftel and find out about the Void Century."_

_Kong nodded. "Let's just say it would be in the World Government's best interest to keep that information classified. If a man like Roger were to get his hands on that information, then he might—"_

_"We've heard all this before," Garp said, standing up and walking towards the door. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to the New World and find Roger, 'cause I'm tired of hearing the same old complaints from the higher-ups. You comin' Sengoku?"_

_After looking at Kong for a second, Sengoku nodded and stood up. He looked at Kong and said, "Don't worry, sir. We'll capture Roger soon enough."_

_"Sengoku, let's go, or I'm leaving you behind!"_

_Sengoku gave Kong one last glance, then turned around to follow his partner out of the room._

_Fleet-Admiral Kong sighed._

— — —

_Two years._

_The Roger Pirates traveled two years in the New World, and to Victor D. Capere, they were the best two years of his life. Never having been to the New World himself, Victor didn't know how long it took to cross to the final island that was simply known as Raftel._

_However, after traveling for quite a bit of time in that tumultuous ocean, and after Victor queried the question to Shanks, he looked at him and said, "Normally it wouldn't take that long, but Roger wants to see _every_ island the New World has to offer, so it's gonna take a lot longer than normal."_

_This confused Victor, who only saw Raftel as their final goal. When asking Roger about this one day, he laughed and said, "What kind of grand journey would this be if we didn't see everything this world had to offer?"_

_Victor didn't find fault with his logic. After all, it was a blast either way._

_They travelled down all four of the normal paths, seeing every island that had to be offered, and of course, do some pirating along the way. Roger was true to his word when he said he'd regain his fortune, and after each successive visit to islands that was ripe for the plundering, the _Oro Jackson_ got a bit heavier with gold and jewels, but the ship held nonetheless._

_And finally, in the year 1499 AOS, they reached the Convergence Point, and moved to the final three islands in the Grand Line._

_It was on the first island, the Ember Isle, that the Roger Pirates met up again with the Whitebeard Pirates (much to Buggy's fear) to engage in one last battle._

_"The winner here can move forward to Raftel," Whitebeard said, lifting his bisento. _

_Roger agreed, and they fought._

_The battle took several hours, and the fighting never let up. In the aftermath of the struggle, though, Gol D. Roger was victorious over Edward Newgate, and, keeping to his word, Whitebeard let him pass._

_Not before going off with Roger alone into the fiery-red forests of Ember Isle to have one last celebratory drink (with Whitebeard's finest sake) and talk. There, Roger explained to Whitebeard his condition, as well as explaining the Will of D., and what he plans on doing once he reaches that final island._

_The two crews, though, got onto the _Moby Dick_ and celebrated. What was a bitter rivalry between the two crew not three hours before, ended with the two celebrating a great battle, and becoming friends._

_Whitebeard left Roger with these parting words: "I didn't much care for finding Raftel and conquering the Grand Line anyways…"_

_They never saw each other again._

— — —

_They passed through Spectrum Isle with no trouble._

— — —

_"Oh shit…Victor, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Shanks couldn't help but ask as the two looked over the bow of the _Oro Jackson.

_Victor rubbed his eyes, and couldn't help but shake his head to see if he was dreaming or not. They had just passed Spectrum Isle, and hopes were high to get to Raftel, but after seeing what was in front of them, it looks like their dreams were dashed._

_"I'm afraid I do…" was all Victor said back._

_Before either could speak again, Roger stepped up behind them and put one hand on both of their shoulders. "That, my friends, is what I like to call the Sea of Maelstroms!"_

_"Sea is a good term, all right…" Victor said. "Though they look more like a field to me."_

_Directly in front of the _Oro Jackson_ was a massive field of swirling maelstroms, each carrying a vicious-looking maw and eager to drag ships into the dark abyss. _

_"Wahhhh! Captain, look!" Buggy said when he caught sight of it, pointing directly at the maelstroms. "This is why no one's ever made it to Raftel before! They all got swallowed up!"_

_"I'm well aware, Buggy," Roger said calmly. "Now calm down and keep your head about you, because we're going right through it!"_

_"What?"_

_Roger glanced back to see Big Mom at the wheel of the ship. Grinning, the captain said, "I trust Leila to get us through here without a hitch—if anyone can do it, she can."_

_Big Mom nodded, then closed her eyes. "Now be quiet, all of you! I need to focus on what's the best route possible to get us through here."_

_Far be it from Victor—or anyone else on the crew for that matter—to do anything that might end with them all getting sucked into the black void of nothingness. Even so, Victor watched intently as the ship first entered into the field._

_Big Mom was perfect, effortlessly turning the _Oro Jackson_ when it was needed, making all of the right moves at the right times. The crew remained silent the entire duration, as the ship finally got spat out on the other end._

_And Victor took the entire path she took in, and committed it to memory._

_Once through the field of death, the crew rejoiced, and was greeted with the sight of the magnificent stretch of ocean that was left until they reached Raftel, called the All Blue._

_"It can't be…" the chef breathed. "The ocean of legends is really here!"_

_Roger was grinning from ear-to-ear, throwing up his arms and saying, "Aye, boys, we've made it! Rejoice now and catch all the fish you can before we reach the island!"_

_The Roger Pirates gave another robust cheer before they set upon the sides of the ship with eager hands gripping fishing poles. Victor joined in, of course, and was smiling the entire time. _

_After enough fish were caught, the chef went to prepare as much as he could for their trip to Raftel. He was able to get a small appetizer out to the entire crew (which they all agreed tasted delicious) before the _Oro Jackson_ docked on Raftel._

_Then, they landed on the last island in the Grand Line._

_It was there that the incident took place._

* * *

What awaits them on Raftel?

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	137. Romance Down 7: The Incident

The Roger Pirates finally make it to Raftel. But what awaits them? Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**137: Romance Down 7- The Incident**

_The _Oro Jackson_ touched base on the island of Raftel as soon as it could, and not one second after it landed, the Roger Pirates leapt off the side of the ship, cheering and whooping with joy, landing on the island's soft sand, laughing and happy. Victor was one of the first ones off the ship and onto the island, landing feet-first on the beach and scanning all he could._

_The first thing he noticed was the large amount of vegetation growing not but a few yards away. He felt a pang of sadness as he thought of Bennett, but it was quickly overwhelmed with excitement that they had finally made it._

_After three years of travelling on the Grand Line, and seeing every island there was to see (every island they_ wanted_ to see), the Roger Pirates were victorious. They had made it to the island no one had ever been to before. Taking in a deep breath, Victor let out a roar of triumph, throwing his arms high into the air._

_Victor looked to his side to see both Shanks and Buggy standing there, grins evident on both of their faces. Victor opened his mouth, as if to speak, but was cut off when Gol D. Roger—flanked by Silvers Rayleigh and Big Mom—stepped off of the_ Oro Jackson_ onto the beach._

_"Alright, ya pack of fools, what are you waiting around for?" he asked. "We finally made it to Raftel, so let's get to explorin'!" It was quite possible that Roger had the widest grin out of the whole group._

_The first thing the Roger Pirates came upon (and only by taking two steps forward, no less), was the rather large and ancient-looking dock off to the right of them. They quickly walked towards it, Roger in the lead, everyone muttering something about what they thought it was._

_The captain touched the rotting wood that the docks were made out of. Rayleigh looked at it and asked, "A civilization lived here recently?"_

_"No," Roger responded with rather quickly. "This dock is made out of the same thing the _Oro Jackson_ is made out of—Adam Wood. I was told that this type of wood never rots, so this must have been here _hundreds_ of years before any visible effects occurred."_

_Big Mom raised her eyebrow quizzically, adding, "And the Rio Poneglyph is rumored to be on this island, so does that mean the Anci—"_

_Roger turned away from the dock and began to move towards the forestland, saying to Big Mom, "Don't know, and it's pointless to speculate. Let's move on."_

_They moved through the forest. After a few minutes, Doran cracked his neck, adjusted the axe he was holding, and asked, "Where, pray tell, are we going, captain?"_

_Roger didn't speak—simply pointed his finger to the large spire they saw in the distance. Victor saw it, and couldn't help but say the first thing that came to his mind: "Palace."_

_"That's what I was thinking," Shanks said, walking right alongside him._

_The rest of the Roger Pirates just walked quietly, silently taking in the surrounding nature of Raftel._

— — —

_They exited the forest to enter the desolate-looking, rock-filled area. With nothing obscuring their vision anymore, they could see the still-standing palace off in the distance. Off to the right of them was a dried riverbed, and Roger walked towards it, hopping inside of it and following the path it revealed in front of him._

_"Why are we going this way?" asked Crocus. "Just going in a straight line will be the fastest way to the palace."_

_Roger didn't look behind to see the rest of the crew, but said, "Be quiet. I'm the captain, and this is the way I say we're going!"_

_That ended all conversations on the subject…_

_Within ten minutes, the riverbed led them to a dead-looking tree trunk. The crew could see the palace off in the distance, and all sighed internally as they saw the path they took led them farther away from their destination than needed. Roger ignored them, though, and looked at the side of the trunk. His eyes widened when he saw what was there._

_"It's the same language as what's written on all the Poneglyphs," he said. "Right here, carved into this very trunk."_

_The crew quickly gathered to see what he was looking at. As soon as Big Mom saw it, she gasped, "So this really was where the Ancient Kingdom once resided…"_

_"What's it say?" questioned Doran._

_Roger put his index finger underneath the ancient writing before reciting: "Here lies the exact spot where Marius D. Romanov sliced his enemy, Ganmore the Wild, in half with his powerful broadsword. The attack was so mighty it cleaved Ganmore cleanly and chopped down the mighty Adam Tree that once stood here. After his victory, Marius proclaimed the Romanov's to be the new leaders of the Kingdom and took his proper place on the throne."_

_Everyone was silent for a few seconds. "So what does it mean, then?" Victor found himself asking._

_"It means that this is the marker for the Rio Poneglyph," Roger said, moving slightly closer to the trunk. He knelt down and gripped the bottom of the trunk. "Hold on, I've got a hunch—get over here and help me, Silvers!"_

_Rayleigh quickly obeyed his captain's orders, squatting down right besides Roger and gripping the trunk. With a grunt, both men began to push the trunk, and, much to the entire crew's surprise, the trunk began to move. After it was moved enough away, a darkened hole was revealed._

_Roger stood up, dusted off his hands, saw the ladder, and began to climb down it. "Those who are interested in seeing the Rio Poneglyph, follow me!"_

_Most of the crew did follow their captain._

— — —

_"Uhh…captain," Shanks asked as soon as everyone was in the secret bunker looking at the massive red Rio Poneglyph, "how did you know how to get here?"_

_Roger didn't take his eyes off the uncut rock, saying, "It's an old poem my parents used to tell me. Apparently it was passed down for years without any real reason, but I knew the real reason, and it's the same reason my middle initial is D."_

_Shanks couldn't help but look at Victor, who didn't return the favor._

_Roger stepped closer and squinted his eyes. Rayleigh saw this and said, "With this, the mystery finally comes full circle…"_

_"Aye," Roger said. "Listen well, boys, 'cause this is the information the World Government doesn't wantcha to hear!"_

_With that, he told the final tale of the Void Century._

— — —

_The palace of the Ancient Kingdom was rather large an imposing. Surprisingly, after all these years, it was still standing (although its dilapidation did show its age). Everyone immediately knew it was made out of what Poneglyphs are made out of—the Ancient Kingdom had the technology to pull off such a feat—but it was still impressive nonetheless._

_Roger led them in (of course) and walked them down the main corridor, where the crew saw the cracked and dusty gray walls of the palace. No doubt they were adorned with several pictures and murals in the palace's prime, but none of it remained anymore; only waste and ruins remained._

_Roger led them to the throne room, and, like the cocky man he was, sat directly on the dusty throne, overlooking everyone who was still standing at the doorway. With a grin, he said, "Anyone who wants to investigate the palace can—I'll remain here."_

_No one moved._

_After Roger saw that this was clear, he stood up, stretched, and said, "Alright, fair enough! Watch and learn, boys."_

_He moved towards the center of the circular room where the seal of the Ancient Kingdom laid, imprinted into the ground. Roger knelt down and was able to stick his hand inside a small hole near the edge of the seal. With a grunt, he lifted it up in one fell swoop, revealing a dark-looking staircase for the crew to take._

_"The Ancient Kingdom sure was one for hiding things underground," Victor couldn't help but mutter to himself as the crew began to walk single-file down the stairs._

_Underneath the palace itself, there was a large gray that was, in itself, empty. Roger spoke like a true historian. "This was probably the place where the Kingdom kept its ready supplies of rock and tools to make the Poneglyphs."_

_"So why are we here?" Victor asked, loud enough so everyone could hear him._

_Roger looked straight at him and said, "This is where we'll store all of the treasure I have accrued. It'll all be one this island in one piece."_

_Everyone's eyes widened slightly at this. "Why?" Victor continued to ask._

_Roger sighed, looking unsure, then braced himself and said firmly, "Men, this is where our journey ends. I'm officially disbanding the Roger Pirates once this task is complete."_

_These words shocked Victor to his very core, and he imagined other pirates felt that way as well. There was several seconds of silence. Then, seeing that no one else would speak, Victor stepped forward and said with a tone of anger, "Disband? What the fuck are you talking about?"_

_"Roger is dying, Victor," Crocus said, also taking a step forward. "He can't be a pirate forever, even if he will be called the King after what we've done here today."_

_Victor ignored him and kept his eyes trained on Roger. "So you're deciding to end it here, in such a small and menial fashion? We're pirates! The only way we should disband would be fighting against the Marines and World Government!"_

_"There's no need." Roger's voice was incredibly calm. "After we leave Raftel, I'll be turning myself into the Marines."_

_Yet another surprise to Victor; he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. _"WHAT? _Why the fuck would you do something like that?"_

_"It's none of your concern, brat!" Roger shot back, a commanding tone in his voice. "Where do you get off questioning your captain's orders anyways?"_

_Victor turned around to look at Shanks and Buggy. "You're okay with this?" he asked—he demanded. "Why aren't you saying anything?"_

_"If that's what the captain wants, then I respect his decision," Shanks said, his voice appearing cold and lifeless to Victor. Buggy nodded in agreement._

_Victor gave them a look of disgust before turning back towards Roger. "So after all this time—after finally reaching Raftel and becoming the King of Pirates, you're just _giving up_? You're not even gonna go and fight or set sail or have fun anymore, like a pirate should, but you're just gonna go and turn yourself into the Marines! What self-respecting man would do that? You're not the Pirate King, you're just a fucking coward!"_

_"Watch what you say, ingrate, or you'll find out why I'm the best pirate in the world!" Roger said, standing his ground._

_"Victor…" Shanks whispered, but no one could hear him._

_Victor didn't back down, but was visibly shaking. "Fuck you! If being a pirate means just giving up like you, then I renounce being a pirate!"_

_With that, he rushed towards Roger, fists clenched, ready to fight. He cocked his fist back and launched it towards Roger, who neatly side-stepped it and drew his sword. Quick as a flash, he was behind Victor, sheathing his sword. He didn't have time to turn around before the sword wound on his chest opened up, revealing a fountain of blood that came from it._

_Victor didn't even have time to cry out before most of the crew was on him, dropping him to the floor and cuffing his hands behind his back. They were all shouting something Victor couldn't understand, because all he was thinking about was, _"Even after learning they're all going to be split up, they still listen to that man…What idiots they all are—what idiots all pirates are…"

_Over all the screams, he heard Roger yell, "Get back to the ship to lock him up and begin loading treasure to bring to this spot. That's the captain's orders!"_

— — —

_Victor sat against the wall of the cell the Roger Pirates threw him in, resting his head and looking up, a vacant stare in his eyes. He looked to his left past the cell bars to see Doran sitting there, his sunglasses hiding his eyes. He wasn't even looking at Victor, despite being the one kept in charge of watching him._

_They uncuffed him when he was thrown inside the cell, and Victor touched his hand against his bandaged chest. Roger at least had the decency to have Crocus address his wounds when they got back to the _Oro Jackson_, rather than just let them fester and die, like a coward. Victor thought it was very unfitting for the man._

_The rest of the Roger Pirates were busy unloading all of the treasure they had collected—collected by stealing and pillaging other innocent people—and bringing it back towards Raftel. _

_"Why would Roger turn himself into the Marines?" Victor asked aloud._

_Doran looked at the prisoner and shrugged. "I don't know, and it doesn't matter. It's what the captain wants."_

_Victor let out a small chuckle at this. "No questions asked, eh? What a perfect pirate you are, never thinking for yourself."_

_"I don't question him because I trust him," Doran shot back. "Roger has never been wrong before, and it's not my place to questions the captain's orders now."_

_Victor stood up and moved towards the bars of the cell. "It's because he's a coward and just wants to give up. Do you have any idea how much power the World Government will gain over this action?"_

_"It doesn't matter," Doran said. "The captain always knows what he's doing, and I'd defend his name to the death."_

_Victor just shook his head. "He's using us all. What do you think will happen once he turns himself in? You think the World Government is just going to let us go? No, ever since we landed on Raftel and learned of the Void Century, we've become the most wanted men in the world. He's dooming all of us by his actions!"_

_"Shut the hell up," Doran said, his voice rising with anger. "You don't know what the fuck you're talking about."_

_"And why would he leave all of his wealth on Raftel?" Victor continued to ask. "If he was a good captain, he'd split it evenly with his crew when we all left, not let it collect dust in the basement of a crumbling palace."_

_Doran stood up, glaring daggers at Victor. "I said shut the hell up, or I'll make you shut up!"_

_"We've stolen and killed from hundreds of people, and for what? So old Gol D. Roger could leave it on Raftel for no one to take. What a fucking waste."_

_Doran did not even attempt to hide his anger anymore. He left his axe where he was sitting before striding right up toward Victor's cell, getting closer and closer as he said, "Now listen, here, Victor, if you don't shut the fuck up, I'll personally make you wish that you—"_

_Three…two…one…perfect._

_As soon as Doran was close enough, Victor shot his arms through the bars and gripped both of Doran's arms. In one fell swoop, he pulled his arms back towards him, smashing Doran's face right against the steel bars, breaking his sunglasses and instantly quieting him. Victor didn't waste any time as he drew the unconscious Doran closer and grabbed the keys on his back pocket._

_Doran dropped to the floor with a quiet thud as Victor opened up the cell and walked out. He quietly put the keys back in Doran's back pocket and smiled lightly at his unconscious form. "Goodbye, Doran. It's been a great three years."_

— — —

_The night sky was up by the time Victor passed the Sea of Maelstroms in the small boat he stole from the _Oro Jackson_. One would think that crossing that field of death in such a small vessel would be suicide, but Victor meticulously remembered the path Big Mom took, and, being a good navigator himself, was able to follow it. Plus, the gap between each individual maelstrom was larger due to the smaller size of the ship, reducing the risk, if only slightly._

_Once he passed Spectrum Island, he gave a glance back to Raftel. The whole crew would discover Doran once they all got back from their treasure-leaving trip. Victor was glad they didn't consider him enough of a threat to leave more pirates to guard the ship. No, they all would have been much more efficient hauling gold across Raftel._

_He supposed he would have to steal a ship eventually, but he didn't think about that now. Right now, all he thought about was what a fool he'd been for being a pirate and trusting Roger, the Pirate King. The more he thought about it, the more his anger for pirates rose, as he thought back with disgust on all the horrible things he'd done while calling himself a Roger Pirate._

_All pirates would pay for their wrongdoing, he'd make sure of that._

_Victor grinned wolfishly as he looked down and saw a large amount of gold and jewels at his feet. Before he left the _Oro Jackson_ for good, he visited the treasure room that, while depleted, wasn't empty. There was enough for him to be on his way—he considered it a parting gift from his old crew. He brushed some of the treasure aside and saw a small-looking brown treasure chest. The chest they had stolen from Whitebeard on the fateful day they fought. The chest that contained the Devil Fruit that no one on the crew wanted to eat. _

("as they should be," Victor said. "losing the ability to swim takes away your ability to be a pirate.")

_True, but Victor was no longer a pirate, was he? He took out the fruit, inspected it quickly, then, still thinking about how he was going to make pirates pay—and hoping this fruit would help him with that goal—he took a bite._

— — —

"That incident opened my eyes to how true pirates really act," Victor said to the Straw Hat Pirates. "They're a cowardly bunch that only cares for themselves. And what happened after Roger turned himself in? He used his damned treasure as leverage to make even _more_ pirates! You couldn't even tell the amount of disgust I feel for that man!"

The Straw Hat crew was silent, as the Random-Random Fruit gave off another shockwave. All was quiet, until Victor heard Luffy give off a laugh from where he lie on the ground.

"What's so funny, Straw Hat?" Victor demanded, anger still clearly in his voice.

"You are," Luffy said, slamming both his fists onto the gray ground in order to pick himself up. "You just enjoyed being a Roger Pirate so much, that when you found out it was all over, you threw a tantrum and renounced piracy forever, trying to mask it by saying you hated Roger for what he did. You're like a child…"

Victor shook his head, saying, "You're wrong, Straw Hat. Pirates are the scum of this earth, and while it's true that I was one of them, I vowed to destroy them for good. Fortunately, the fruit I ate is the one that has allowed me to make my plan, and thus, here we are now."

Luffy was finally on his feet again, still smiling. "Honestly, I don't care why you're doing what you're doing. You can think that pirates are wrong all you want…but the second you started attacking me, my crew, or any innocent person, that's when you become my enemy, whether you think you're justified or not!"

Victor could feel the anger rising in Luffy, and saw that it was giving him strength. Zoro grinned when he saw this and said, "Looks like the captain's got it back under control…"

Letting out a large roar, Luffy was ready to battle Victor again.

It was time for round two!

* * *

With both of their resolves clear, they move to strike again!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	138. Final Shuffle

Back in the present, the battle continues! Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**138: Final Shuffle**

The Straw Hat Crew—Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, and Hancock—all felt a shudder at the same time as Luffy let that roar rip from his throat. Sanji was just finished ripping off all of the vegetation that connected himself to Franky, and moved a few feet away from the cyborg.

"This time, I think we'll let Luffy fight by himself," the chef said, looking directly at Zoro. "And _not_ have anymore interferences…"

The swordsman gave a small grin and replied, "Don't worry, it won't happen again."

Everyone else remained silent and watched the spectacle before them…

Luffy immediately began to run up the large wall of treasure known as One Piece straight towards Victor, throwing his arm back and yelling, "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

Victor quickly side-stepped the attack and gripped Luffy's outstretched arm. With a grunt, he yanked it forward, bringing Luffy towards him. As the Straw Hat captain was flying towards Victor, he brought his other arm back in an attempt to deal a second blow to Luffy. Right as Victor brought his fist straight towards Luffy's face, Luffy did likewise with his free arm, cocking it backwards.

"Gum-Gum Bullet!"

Both strikes hit each other at the same time—Victor's at Luffy's face, and Luffy's at Victor's stomach—as each blow was imbued with Haki. Letting out grunts of pain, both men fell backwards, as Victor stumbled and began to roll down the golden mountain, leaving the Random-Random Fruit unprotected.

They both rose at approximately the same time, Victor gripping his stomach while Luffy spat blood out of his mouth idly to the side.

"It doesn't matter what you think, Straw Hat," Victor said. "What I'm doing is the right thing to do, and that's all that matters to me. The only way for you to stop it is to kill me."

Luffy didn't grace Victor with an answer, however, Victor could still feel the power welling up inside his enemy (if that last blow wasn't enough of an indicator), and a pang of fear struck him again.

Letting out another roar, Luffy began to run towards Victor. This time, he pointed his index finger at Luffy and shot a beam of light at him. Luffy was able to instinctively leap to the right, letting the beam fly past him, as he kept rushing towards Victor. Employing the powers of the Dice-Dice Fruit, Victor began to glide towards Luffy with his bladed-feet, going to match Luffy head-on.

Launching both his arms backwards, Luffy yelled, "Gum-Gum Rocket!"

"Daisy Blades!"

Victor was able to cut Luffy's chest with his bladed-arm just before Luffy slammed both his Haki-infused fists into Victor's chest, causing him to spit out blood and slide backwards. Not giving an inch, Luffy ran towards him again, leaping upwards as he got close.

"Gum-Gum Stamp!"

Victor was able to block this by raising both his forearms, but the attack pushed him back nonetheless. As this happened, he thought, _"How? He had almost no power left until recently. And what's worse, all of his attacks now have Haki and he can—"_

He stopped, Luffy continued.

"Wait…" he breathed.

Not heeding Victor's words, Luffy launched his outstretched leg towards Victor, yelling, "Gum-Gum Whip!"

Victor quickly hopped over it, landing behind Luffy. Before the Straw Hat captain could turn around, he employed his Dice-Dice powers to slash Luffy's back. Luffy let out another roar and quickly shifted his weight to turn around, throwing his arm behind him and striking the back of his fist against Victor's unprotected head, causing him to drop to the floor and roll twice before recovering his ground and jumping back up.

"I see it now…" Victor said with a satisfied grin. "Looks like your Haoshoku Haki's coming into play again, just like on the Vespian Isles—quite an advantage I must say."

Finally, Luffy spoke. "What are you talking about?"

"So not consciously, eh?" asked his enemy. "I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything more. However, you're unconsciously tapping into it, and it's granting you some of your hidden reserves of strength."

Hancock seemed to wince at this statement. _"I guess the training wasn't enough…And it seemed so promising too."_

The smile was still on Victor's face. "I hope you don't expect that to last you long, Straw Hat. You're running on empty right now, and pretty soon you'll be—"

Victor was cut off as Luffy appeared right in front of him. Before he could react, Luffy slugged him right across the face, sending Victor hitting the ground again. Still gripping his fist, the captain asked, "You think I care about your analysis? If what you say is true anyways, then I might as well end it as soon as possible."

"You son of a…" Victor started, spitting out blood from his mouth.

Luffy slammed his fist into the ground as steam began to rise. "Gear Second!"

Victor barely had time to turn into light particles and disappear before Luffy was on him. Keeping calm, Luffy was able to sense that Victor turned up behind him, aiming a light beam towards the back of his head. Disappearing just as the beam left Victor's finger, Luffy reappeared to his side, his fist cocked back.

"Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!"

His attack perfectly struck Victor's unprotected side, the shock sending him flying towards One Piece and, ironically, closer to the Random-Random Fruit.

It gave off another shockwave as Luffy prepared to strike again.

— — —

_Kendrich Isle  
The Grand Line_

Being a moderately (and even that word might be pushing it) successful island, Otto the Merchant felt blessed to be living comfortably on Kendrich Isle. Every day he sold his food wares at the town ("The best food you'll ever eat" was his catchphrase), and every night he went home to see his wife and kids, to relax, and to go to bed.

This particular night, though, after a particularly difficult day—it seemed the people weren't in the mood for food products today—working, Otto decided he would go and visit the local bar to relax before going home to see his wife and kids.

He's occasionally switched up his routine with a trip to the bar, and Otto thinks it's a nice change of pace. After this particularly hard day, though, the merchant found that he needed a few more drinks to calm himself, and he ended up staying a little later than he had anticipated.

It was fully dark out when he stumbled (and even that word might be pushing it) out of the bar, thinking of the excuse he'd tell his wife and kids as to why he broke schedule and came home late, no doubt making them worry. There was an accident? No, too obvious. Maybe then, a problem with a shipment of supplies he'd received, and he had to solve the problem directly. They'd question it, but it'd have to do.

"Ah, fuck," Otto muttered as he took the same routine path he always did to get to his house. He had a few more drinks than normal, so navigating the path was a little more difficult than usual.

They'd probably smell the alcohol on his breath immediately, but Otto decided he didn't care. It was good to break the rules sometimes, and he'd let his family know that as soon as he clambered through his front door. Why, if they even tried to push the subject, he could easily just ignore them and—

A flash of lightning ripped through the darkened sky and struck in the distance. Five seconds later, the sound of thunder followed it.

Otto gave a little leap backwards after muttering an obscenity. He looked up at the sky and saw dark clouds forming overhead. What a time for the weather to suddenly go bad. Thinking, he heard the thunder five seconds after the lightning struck. Otto remembered hearing somewhere that however many seconds it took for thunder to follow lightning was how many miles away the strike had occurred.

Five miles away.

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Otto continued on his path, once again thinking of his family's reaction.

It struck again, and this time, the thunder only followed three seconds after.

Otto thought this was a strange occurrence, as he looked up at the sky again and realized that it wasn't even raining. It was as if the lightning came out of nowhere.

Two bolts struck at the same time, this time only a mile away. Otto decided he'd had enough and began to run towards his home, wanting to be enveloped in its safety.

People were beginning to notice now, as lights all around began to turn on. More lightning struck at a more rapid rate. Before anyone knew it, the sky was pierced with light. The last one struck the house right next to Otto—a closed shop—and caused him to leap back in fear, letting out a startled choke.

He looked up and began to see the clouds in the sky part a bit. Before he knew it, a circle appeared in the sky, and there, a black ball

_(advent of thunder)_

began to lower from the sky as lightning crackled all around it. It drew to closer and closer to Kendrich Isle, the sound of lightning and thunder deafening.

_"Is this what I get for staying out so late?"_ thought a delirious Otto. _"I'm sorry I did it! I'll never stay out late again. I promise I'll never worry my family unnecessarily, and—"_

The Advent of Thunder struck Kendrich Isle, and no one had to worry about anything anymore.

— — —

Kneeling close to the ground, Victor used the Plant-Plant Fruit's powers to send a long line of vegetation speeding towards Luffy. It caught him by his feet, stopping him for a moment, but Luffy only seemed to see this as a minor annoyance, using Gear Second to quickly speed away, shredding the plants.

_"Shit, his power is only increasing, when it should be _decreasing_!"_ Victor thought as he quickly moved again to avoid Luffy's next strike.

"Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!" Luffy roared, throwing another strike at his enemy.

Victor was able to barely dodge it before moving towards Luffy again, his feet pounding against the gray cement below him as he hoped he could reach his enemy in time. Luffy stretched both his arms back at the oncoming Victor, who was getting closer and closer.

"Gum-Gum Jet—"

"Oh no you don't!" yelled Victor, throwing a punch straight to the side of Luffy's face.

The Straw Hat captain was cut off and dropped to the floor. He quickly recovered, and before Victor could follow-up with another strike, Luffy was beginning to attack again. He whipped his leg back and yelled, "Gum-Gum Jet Wh—"

Victor was ahead of him, using the Shadow-Shadow Fruit to sneak his shadow behind Luffy and forming it into the form of a spear, striking right through Luffy's shoulder and stopping his attack dead in its tracks.

Luffy grunted in pain as the shadow disappeared, and it looked like the steam of his Gear Second was wearing off. He wasn't going to give up yet, though, as he regained focus to continue the fight. Unfortunately, Victor used this time to appear right in front of him, and was able to grab Luffy's face, using his momentum to slam him into the ground.

"I've had enough of this, Straw Hat!" Victor spat. "You're not going to win, so stop dragging it out and wasting my fucking time!"

The steam around Luffy disappeared completely by now, as his Gear Second ended. Luffy looked like he was about to move, but Victor, still having him pinned, slammed his Haki-powered fist in to Luffy's stomach, yelling, "I said it's _over_!"

Luffy grunted and sucked in a large amount of air. Unfortunately for Victor, Luffy used this to expand, even yelling, "Gum-Gum Balloon!"

This took Victor by surprise, and he was pushed away from Luffy altogether. The rubbery captain leaped up quickly, throwing his fist back and running towards Victor at the same time. He didn't have any time to react before Luffy's fist slammed straight into his face.

"Gum-Gum Bullet!"

Victor stumbled backwards, but didn't lose his balance. Instead, he countered with by smashing Luffy across the face with his fist. Likewise, Luffy didn't stumble. After their brief exchange, both fighters stared at each other, breathing heavily and bleeding.

"How much longer can they last?" Usopp asked his crew.

Robin shook her head. "It seems inhuman that they can continue, that's for sure…"

"Still, that Haoshoku Haki really is something," Nami added. "It's given Luffy the edge again."

"Truly a sight for sore eyes," Brook stated. He didn't add a skeleton pun afterwards.

Hancock looked at them all quizzically and shook her head. "No, this isn't right. If he was truly using Haoshoku Haki, the effects would be far more staggering."

"What?" they all seemed to ask at once.

Hancock looked back at the two fighters and said, "Haoshoku is a fearsome power. Its effects can be different for everyone if utilized properly, and while I suspect that this power increase is indeed from Haoshoku Haki, I don't think Luffy's used it willingly yet. More like a backup reserve for power."

"Then what's it like when it's used consciously?" inquired Franky.

Hancock surprisingly smiled. "You'll see soon enough, I think. Luffy's going to go all-out now."

Victor's sharp ears overheard this conversation, and he couldn't help but ask, "Is it true, Straw Hat? Are you planning on using Haoshoku Haki consciously now?"

"Damn," Luffy said, shaking his head. "I was planning on saving it for later, but at this rate, it looks like I have to, especially since you know about it."

Victor was both shocked and amused at the same time. The amused side was more powerful, so a lazy smile appeared on his face as he said, "Then by all means, Straw Hat, show me!"

Luffy nodded. "You asked for it."

He then remembered his training, and released the full power of Haoshoku Haki.

* * *

Victor taunts him into showing his ace!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	139. Final Shuffle 2: The King's War

The effects of the Random-Random Fruit... Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**139: Final Shuffle 2- The King's War**

_Caradin Isle  
The Grand Line_

The marine base at Grengan Village—the only village on Caradin Isle—was mostly silent. Most of the marines at the base were asleep in the barracks, and sleep came peacefully enough, seeing as how there was no danger threatening Caradin Isle.

Commodore Bradley, however, found that he couldn't sleep this night. He sat in his office, the lights on to offer warmth in the cold night. On his desk there were several things strewn about: maps, paperwork, pens, a den-den mushi, a list of what to do for the next day, and finally, a picture of his family.

He glanced over at the picture, and instantly looked away when he saw it. These days, his family—Rachael, Kenji, and Kaede—was too much to look at, especially since it reminded him of what he did five years ago.

Five years ago…it was dark that day, much like on this night. It was the day when he found paperwork incriminating his own wife, saying that she was a member of the Revolutionaries, and that they were planning to liberate this island. Doing what any high-ranking marine official would do, Bradley acted on the evidence he had and arrested his own wife, and with his own kids watching, no less.

He took her into custody, and, after reporting this information to the higher-ups at Marineford, they gave him the worst news he could ever hear. He would have to execute Rachael for treason against the World Government. Bradley was stuck with the harshest decision of his life. If he refused, it was very likely that he would also be accused of treason, and it would do nothing to help his now-doomed wife.

Thinking of nothing but his family, and knowing that if both Rachael and he were gone, his kids would have no one, he made his decision, and ordered his wife to be executed. After that was done, he immediately went to try and find Kenji and Kaede, but they were nowhere to be found.

After days, weeks, even, of looking and finding no trace, Bradley accepted the fact that they were gone, no doubt they ran away after witnessing such horrors committed upon their family.

Bradley stayed with the Marines—what else could he do?—and continued his monotonous work as the leading officer of the base. Two years after that day, he was promoted from Captain to Commodore, but Bradley found that he couldn't care anymore. He went through the motions all marines had to go through, finding criminals, trying them, dealing out the proper punishment, but he barely saw the point anymore. Justice was cruel, and he was just another soldier carrying it out—a cog in a machine, one might say.

Commodore Bradley put the picture face-down, and quickly reached for a bottle of grog that was also on his desk (along with the many other things that reside there). He took a swig, put the bottle down, and then rubbed his temples.

In the end, the idea that the Revolutionaries were going to invade Caradin Isle was false. The island stayed as safe as it had been for years, no pirates in or out, and the danger that was posed to the island didn't cause much concern.

A few minutes passed by, and Bradley heard a crack from the sky. The commodore's first thoughts were that it was thunder, but he quickly realized that it didn't sound a thing like a thunder-crack. In fact, it wasn't a sound that he had ever heard at all.

He quickly left his office and went out on the balcony that overlooked Grengan Village (being the highest-ranking marine on the island did have _some_ perks). There, looked up in the sky and strained his eyes to see what was happening. After a few seconds of searching, his eyes caught sight of what he was looking for.

There, in the middle of the darkened sky, it looked as it a massive black hole had opened up, defying all logic. He didn't have time to say anything before the alien sound was heard again. A few seconds after this, some equally-black material that looked like sludge to Commodore Bradley began to drop from the black hole and land on the floor.

As soon as it touched the ground of Grengan Village, it began to spread out on all sides, eventually reaching the markets and houses of the villagers. Bradley gulped as he thought that he should rally the base, but his legs were frozen to the spot. The sludge kept going, eventually enveloping everything within its path without prejudice.

Bradley heard no screams, but he did see the buildings get sucked into the sludge and follow the path up to the hole in the sky. It soon reached the walls of the marine base—walls that Kenji and Kaede once scaled to witness the execution of their mother. Like the others, it sucked the walls down and continued on its path without any trouble.

Commodore Bradley knew that whatever it was, it would envelop the island soon, and there was no way to escape it. He made no move to leave from his spot.

_"This is what I get," _he thought bitterly.

The seeping darkness covered the courtyard, and reached the barracks. Bradley didn't hear any sounds of opposition. Soon, it would reach where he was standing, and he would follow the same path that all of Grengan Village was following. Just before it reached his office, Bradley's mouth opened.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry…"

And all was returned to darkness.

— — —

_"There's no way he's learned to control Haoshoku Haki in such a short amount of time,"_ Victor reasoned as Luffy stared at him with determination after saying he'd use it. _"The boy's certainly skilled with Haki, but not _that_ skilled!"_

Luffy didn't roar, didn't say anything at all, in fact. He remembered how to control the gift he was given, and with one stare of determination, he used it.

The air all around the gray room that housed One Piece thickened immediately. To Victor, it felt like the gravity had increased, and it was weighing him down. Against his own will, he let out a grunt of discomfort, letting Luffy know that he was succeeding in using it.

The feeling had stayed, even as Luffy grinned at Victor and said, "I'm ready!"

He immediately rushed at the sluggish-feeling Victor and was able to kick him right in his chest, sending him flying backwards. This attack seemed to knock Victor out of his daze, as he was immediately back in on the fight. He pointed his index finger at the charging Luffy to send a light beam flying through him, but found that his Glint-Glint powers weren't working.

"What the…" was all he could say.

"Gum-Gum Bazooka!"

Both of Luffy's Haki-powered arms slammed into Victor's chest, causing him to scream in pain as he was once again sent flying backwards, hitting the ground with a thud. He rose a little slower this time, and tried to use his Dice-Dice powers to counter Luffy's next attack.

It didn't work.

Luffy threw his leg back and said, "Gum-Gum Whip!"

Victor, however, raised up his forearm and blocked the attack. As Luffy's leg retracted, Victor grimaced at his enemy.

"I see what this is," he said. "Your Haoshoku Haki is sort of like an aura that radiates around you—that covers this entire room. And it's that particular aura that makes everything seem heavier, as well as cancel out all Devil Fruit powers in the room, save for your own, of course."

Luffy nodded. "That seems about right."

Internally, Victor felt panic race through him. His outward appearance showed none of it, though. He simply smiled and said, "I'd advise you not to underestimate me, Straw Hat. Just because I don't have my Devil Fruit powers doesn't mean I'm beaten."

The entire Straw Hat Crew looked at Hancock, who took her eyes away from the fight long enough to see their gaze. After several seconds, she said, "This is the true power of Haoshoku Haki, to emit an energy that saps out all the Devil Fruit powers in its vicinity. Though the…weight the aura gives is somewhat unique. Like I said, though, all Haoshoku Haki has slight variations."

Luffy rushed towards Victor, throwing his fist back and yelling, "Gum-Gum Pistol!"

Victor was able to duck in time, letting the fist fly over his head. Not wanting to stall, Victor immediately rushed towards the unprotected Luffy and was able to tackle him to the ground. While Luffy was down, Victor quickly slugged him across his face, causing blood to fly out of his mouth.

Before he could get another hit in, though, Luffy threw his fist up and struck Victor square in the chin, causing him to fall off in pain. Luffy quickly hopped up and ran towards Victor, oblivious of any pain he was feeling. Victor did the same.

Both men let out a roar and rushed towards each other, both with their fists cocked back. They threw their fists at each other at the same time, and both men hit each other in the side of their faces, causing both men to step back and waver, but not lose their stance. They braced themselves forward and struck again, barraging the other with a series of powerful blows, neither one wanting to give in.

And the fight continued on…

— — —

_Foodvalten  
The New World_

The Sound-Sound Fruit played its melody over the island that once housed an Adam Tree. The citizens of the island barely had time to question what was happening before a massive explosion overtook the island, which was enveloped by the tune that was playing.

— — —

_Wano Country  
The New World_

The Flu-Flu Fruit released a deadly toxin over the island that was called the Iron Flu by its previous owner, Kaido. No one noticed it as it spread, and only displayed simple cold symptoms.

Everyone, including all the animals, died of it within two days.

— — —

"They're just pounding each other in an outright brawl," Nami remarked, covering her mouth to show her horror. "Neither one is giving in, either…"

Sanji lit a cigarette and watched. "Whoever gives any ground first is bound to lose."

"Guys, I'm afraid of Luffy's condition," Chopper said. "If he keeps pushing himself like this, he's not going to live…"

Zoro, who was nearby, said to the doctor, "Quit worrying. Luffy's been in tons of situations like this and has always come out on top. Besides, let's just leave it up to luck and skill and see what happens."

Victor slammed his fist into Luffy's gut. Luffy gripped Victor's outstretched arm and punched him right across the face. Victor recoiled slightly, but quickly countered with a powerful kick to Luffy's chest.

Haoshoku Haki was still being activated by Luffy, and Victor was starting to see the effects. _"Every second he continues to use it,"_ he thought, _"the power drains out of him. All I have to do is outlast him, and eventually he won't have enough energy to keep using his Haki."_

Unfortunately, Victor's train of thought caused him to get slightly distracted, and Luffy saw that opportunity. Throwing his fist back, he launched it forward, throwing his full strength into the attack. "Gum-Gum Bullet!"

The strike hit Victor right at the side of his head, and he unintentionally let out a cry of pain as he lost his footing and hit the floor, staying there for several seconds.

The Random-Random Fruit gave off another shockwave.

Luffy simply stood there, breathing heavily. The seastone cuffs in his pants jingled slightly as he began to walk towards the fallen Victor. Luffy was well aware that the strength was draining out of him every second he continued to use Haoshoku Haki, but he couldn't slack off with it until the seastone cuffs were on Victor's wrists.

He threw his foot high into the air, and was about to bring it crashing down, yelling, "Gum-Gum Battle Axe!"

Just then, Victor jumped up and ran towards the unprotected Luffy, roaring and throwing a barrage of punches directly at the Straw Hat captain's chest, each strike laced with Busoshoku Haki. Luffy felt every blow and dropped back, but Victor kept going towards him—stumbling towards him, really—and prepared another attack.

Luffy slammed his fist on the ground and roared, "Gear Second!"

Before Victor could attack, Luffy disappeared and reappeared behind Victor, throwing a powerful fist straight at his back. Victor stumbled, but kept his ground, turning around and preparing to strike again.

Before he could, Luffy was gone, this time above Victor. He looked at him and twisted his arm backwards, then launching it and yelling, "Gum-Gum Jet Rifle!"

It slammed down hard on Victor, dropping him to his hands and knees. Luffy quickly dropped to the floor and ran towards him, yelling, "Gum-Gum Jet Cannon!"

Both his fists slammed into the recovering Victor, but at the last second he was able to grip Luffy's outstretched fists and pull him forward, throwing Luffy straight into Victor's oncoming fist.

Luffy recoiled, but braced himself, and prepared for one final attack. "Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!"

This attack had far less power that Victor imagined, and as a result, it only sent him stumbling backwards and gripping his chest, where he was hit. Before he could fully compose himself, though, Luffy quickly pulled out the seastone cuffs and ran towards Victor.

"Oh, shit…" he said, realizing the situation.

The seastone cuffs clicked on without effort onto Victor's left wrist. Everything was silent for a second as Luffy deactivated his Haoshoku Haki and Gear Second. The Straw Hat Crew saw this, and smiles instantly lit up on their faces.

"Yes!" they all said at once.

Luffy looked at them and grinned, despite his numerous wounds.

_"I SAID DON'T FUCKING UNDERESTIMATE ME!"_ Victor roared, slamming his right fist across Luffy's face, taking the captain by surprise and sending him tumbling to the floor on his back.

Luffy quickly recovered and leapt up, breathing just as heavily as Victor, and bleeding from just as many wounds. Both fighters were running on reserves now.

They stared at each other for several seconds, the only sound the sound of their ragged breathing. Finally, Victor surprisingly smiled and said, "Let's finish this."

"Sounds good to me," Luffy replied, matching his smile.

With that, they both rushed towards each other again.

* * *

The war reaches its fever pitch!

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	140. Final Shuffle 3: Endgame

The end of the fight...Who wins? Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own One Piece. If I did, I would be busy drawing instead of writing Fanfictions.

* * *

**140: Final Shuffle 3- Endgame**

As the two fighters moved to clash, one moving to save the world in his own way, the other intending to stop him and become the Pirate King, the glory and size and color of One Piece stood behind them. Twenty-three years ago, Gol D. Roger left his vast fortune on Raftel, formerly home to theAncientKingdom, in hopes of sparking a revolution in piracy. It succeeded, of course, but Roger didn't just do it because he loved the pirate lifestyle.

The Pirate King knew that he needed an incentive to get more pirates out on the sea who bear the letter D. for their middle initial. The more "users of D." out there on the sea, the more likely their purpose would be fulfilled. Nico Robin had it half-right when she said that the Will of D. was to end the World Government. Truly, the descendants of the royal bloodline in theAncientKingdomwould want such a thing, but Roger thought there would be more than that. There had to be a symbol for the freedom the users of D. strive for, and what better symbol of freedom is there than being the Pirate King?

In the end, it would boil down to two ways of fixing the world: through destruction, or through freedom.

So the two men—both bearers of the initial D.—battle on Raftel, at the site of One Piece itself, symbolically, fighting for these two main ideas. If Victor wins, then destruction and purges pave the way to the new generation. If Luffy (and subsequently Dragon) wins, then the title of Pirate King is claimed and the ultimate symbol of freedom returns after a twenty-three year absence.

This fight decides it all, and this fight will soon draw to a conclusion…

— — —

_Rarkin __Island  
The New World_

"Bepo, Jean Bart, help me over here, willya?"

"Aye-Aye, Captain!"

Trafalgar Law kicked the door open to the restaurant (much to the aghast of the waiters), carrying none other than fellow Supernova Jewelry Bonney, who was currently unable to stand or walk.

His two crewmates quickly moved through and cleared a path for the pirate captain so he could walk more easily. Law uttered a low growl as he looked at Bonney and asked, "Why the hell did you eat so much food and drink so much ale?"

Bonney opened one eye and looked at him as if he was insane. "Because it tasted good…Now let me down, I'm fine, I tell ya!"

Law rolled his eyes. "You weren't able to walk three feet in front of you, hence why we're in this position. Next time, just eat less."

Bonney muttered something that Law couldn't hear (or comprehend, for that matter), before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep. Law looked around and saw that it was incredibly dark outside. Bonney sure kept them there late, especially since she kept eating long past the rest of them, and by the end she was so inebriated that Law had to cover the bill. He reminded himself to get her to pay up as soon as she was sober and able to move again.

"Bepo, which way are our ships docked?"

The bear pointed in the proper direction, and the captain began to follow it. The two crews—the Heart Pirates and Bonney Pirates—have been travelling together since the Vespian Isles. They have since let the death of their fellow Supernovas go, especially since they knew the reason they were captured and killed.

While first slightly unsure of the idea, Law had to admit that travelling with Bonney hadn't been too bad. She always certainly made things interesting, and, quite frankly, Law was tired of travelling alone all the time.

"I can carry her if she's too heavy, Captain," Jean Bart offered.

Law grinned and said, "That's alright, although I appreciate your offer, Jean Bart. I'm more than capable of such a simple task."

They continued walking towards the ships (they still had a week left to log the island), and it wasn't much longer before Law noticed that the sky began to get lighter and lighter. He looked up and saw something he hoped he would never see.

A thousand lava fists were falling from the sky.

"Shit, look out!" he said, as one struck just a few yards away, resulting in a large crash.

Everyone was immediately alert, as Law immediately began to move, yelling to his men, "Come on, we gotta get to the submarine quickly!"

As they were running, Law looked over his shoulder to see Bonney, who still appeared to be asleep (much to his chagrin).

"Hey, it's time to wake up!" he yelled.

This did the trick as Bonney's head immediately shot up. A lava fist ("_An Akainu original, no doubt,"_ Law thought) flew down and hit the restaurant they were eating at dead-on behind them, causing her to let out a small scream.

"What the fuck is happening?"

"It looks like lava is falling from the sky, if you ask me," said Law in a sarcastic quip.

Bonney smacked him in the back of his head, saying, "I can see that, idiot! I'm asking why!"

Law shrugged as he continued to run with Bonney on his back. "Hell if I know, I'm just running away from it…"

"Well put me down then," she demanded.

Law shook his head. "No can do. If I do, you'll be too uncoordinated to move, and you'll be left behind and most likely perish in a fiery agony."

"Captain, look out!" Jean Bart roared.

Law looked up and skidded to a halt, quickly running directly to his right. A lava fist collided right where he would have been had he kept running straight. The impact was enough to force him backwards, however.

He quickly regained his composure and kept running. "We have to get to the submarine—_Heartless_—as soon as possible and get into the ocean, where hopefully we'll be safe!"

Meanwhile, several fists made of lava kept pummeling Rarkin Island.

— — —

"Gum-Gum Stamp!"

Monkey D. Luffy threw his foot towards Victor D. Capere in an attempt to smash it into his face. Victor was able to duck, however, and moved towards Luffy. Acting fast, he threw his fist straight into Luffy's expose ribs, causing him to grip them in pain and hope away from his enemy. He quickly gained momentum again, though, as he jumped into the air and threw his foot back.

"Gum-Gum Stamp Gatling!"

His foot was thrown forth multiple times towards Victor, who threw up his arms in a defense and was hit with most of them, causing him to lose some ground. The handcuff on Victor's left wrist rattled as he saw Luffy land, panting heavily.

_"The Haoshoku Haki's wiped out everything he had left,"_ Victor thought in a rational tone. _"I'm nearly finished myself, especially with the seastone suppressing my powers, but I still have enough power to finish him off!"_

He moved towards Luffy, not wanting to waste any time. Luffy threw an outstretched punch, but Victor side-stepped it and continued towards him. Luffy, however, was able to grab onto a solid object buried within One Piece with his outstretched arm and rocketed himself forward with his other arm outstretched.

"Gum-Gum Sickle!"

It struck Victor dead-on in his stomach, sending him barreling towards the wealth of One Piece with a crash. There, he lay for several seconds, coughing, as Luffy gripped his knees and hunched over, trying to keep himself from collapsing.

"It's just a battle of endurance now," Franky said. "Whoever collapses first loses."

Usopp gripped his Kabuto and said, "This is stupid! He's our captain, and we should be able to help him out right now!"

He was about to aim his slingshot at Victor before Zoro (who was close to the sharpshooter) knocked it out of his hand. Usopp looked at the swordsman incredulously, but Zoro didn't return the favor, instead just looking at the fight.

"If you call yourself a man of the sea, Usopp," he said through gritted teeth, "then let them finish it themselves!"

Sanji looked over at Zoro and saw that his arms were shaking as he also tried to restrain himself from joining the battle to help his captain. Smiling, he took a puff on his cigarette and looked back to the fight…

Victor slowly got up, and Luffy let him, enjoying the small rest he got while Victor was struggling to stand. The Random-Random Fruit, meanwhile, gave off yet another shockwave.

Smiling, Victor wrenched his thumb behind him and motioned towards his Devil Fruit creation. "Every second you don't stop me, another island is bound to be doomed. So what's the problem Straw Hat? You have every advantage…you have your Haoshoku Haki, you handcuffed me with seastone"—he raised up his left wrist to prove this point—"and you've got your crew fully backing you. So why, oh why is the Random-Random Fruit still standing and producing its devastating effects?"

Luffy didn't speak. He just kept staring at Victor with resolve burning in his eyes.

Victor outstretched both his arms to show his body in full. "Come on, Straw Hat! I tried to kill you and steal your Devil Fruit for a reason; I knew you would be a great threat to me, and it seems like even with the Corps of Kings, Poseidon, and access to a plethora of Devil Fruits, it wasn't enough to stop you. So what are you waiting for? Come and fucking attack me! See if you still have enough strength to finish me off and show me that you're stronger!"

Luffy didn't move.

Victor lowered his arms. His voice seemed to regain its calm composure as well. "Of course, even if you do defeat me and destroy the Random-Random Fruit, nothing will change. If the World Government is overthrown, another equally—if not more—dangerous group will come into power. I hope you're not going to say that letting _pirates_ run everything is better than the status quo, because to say such a thing would be lunacy. Pirates are the scum of the earth, and care about nothing but themselves. They'd just make this world worse! So tell me, Straw Hat, what do you think would be better for the world? Answer me, you son of a bitch!"

After several seconds, Luffy opened his mouth to speak…

— — —

_The Vespian Isles  
The New World_

Julia Carrison was in the backyard of her newly-built home.

After the night of rebellion against Razeden Kaido, the Vespian Government finally began to regain control that had been lost when the Yonko occupied the isles, and things began to finally return to normal. In the end, the rebellion was a success—she had to thank the Straw Hats for _at least_ that much—but the cost it came with was terrible.

She and Beau Daewn went to rebuilding her home that was destroyed due to William Helmont's artillery shell. It didn't take long, especially with their drive to finish the project, and before Julia knew it, she had a place to live in again.

However, on this night, she moved into her backyard and went to the far end of it. There, she kneeled down in front of a highly-stylized stone that was embedded in the ground. On it, it said:

Ridge Carrison  
Beloved Husband and Friend

She looked at it and said, "Hey, how's it going, Ridge?"

There was, of course, no response. She didn't let this stop her from talking.

"Things are pretty good on my end. I wasn't able to sleep tonight, so I thought I'd come and see you to check up…I bet you're doing just fine and you're probably still celebrating about how well things are going on the Vespian Isles now. I just wanted to let you know that I miss you, but I won't wallow in grief for too long—I know what you'd say to me if you saw me doing that."

She wiped a tear coming from her eye, before standing up rather abruptly.

"I think I'll try and go back to sleep now. I'll come see you tomorrow and see how you're doing then…"

She moved three steps away from Ridge's headstone when she heard some mumbling and grumbling in the woods. She quickly looked behind herself to see none other than Beau Daewn ambling through the woodworks, a bottle of alcohol in his hand.

It took him a few seconds to notice her, and when he did, Julia giggled and held out her hand in a welcoming gesture. "Hey there, Beau. What brings you here?"

Beau raised up the alcohol bottle as if it was obvious. "The best place for a man to get solitude is in the woods, don'tcha know? The booze here is just to lighten my head underneath the airy night sky." He blinked and was silent for a few seconds. "Why're you outside so late? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Couldn't," she said. "So I thought I'd come out here and talk to Ridge for a while."

Beau moved towards her, taking another swig of alcohol as he did it. He eventually walked right in front of the headstone and looked at it. "Yeah, that'd put your mind at ease, I'd imagine."

Julia looked at Beau and opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, but a large cracking sound cut her off. Before the two could question what was going to happen, the rumbling grew louder and the ground beneath them began to shake. All around them, the trees began to crackle and snap under the pressure.

"Either I'm fuckin' drunk to all hell," Beau said, trying to ground himself, "or we're experiencing a massive earthquake!"

He was right. The Tremor-Tremor Fruit had targeted the Vespian Isles.

The shaking only got worse, as whole trees surrounding the two began to be uprooted and crash to the ground. Julia looked at her house and saw that it too was creaking and shaking like mad.

_"Just when it was rebuilt too," _Julia couldn't help but think. The surprisingly-calm thought was enough to make her almost burst out laughing.

Beau, however, was less than enthusiastic about the predicament. "Shit! Julia, we're probably gonna have to abandon the isles and get to the sea for safety, assuming no tsunamis come out of this!"

"No."

Beau looked at Julia with a mixture of confusion and apprehension. "What did you just say?"

"I said no." Julia kept her firm tone, despite her increasing troubles of trying to stand upright as the individual isles began to rock back and forth.

Beau grabbed her arm and attempted to move her, saying, "Don't be fucking insane. If this keeps up, the whole island will be torn asunder _again_!"

Julia threw her arm to the side and broke Beau's grip. "This island was able to survive the warship Poseidon crashing on it, it was able to survive Razeden Kaido, and it was able to survive the same Ancient Weapon blowing up—it can handle a simple earthquake! And I'm _sure as hell_ not leaving the isles that we just fought so fucking hard to protect!"

Beau remained silent and just stared at her.

Julia threw her head up to the sky and roared, _"DO YOU HEAR ME? THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO DESTROY THIS ISLAND OR GET ME OFF OF IT, AND THAT'S FINAL!"_

The powers of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit didn't appear to heed her cry, as the earthquakes only continued to intensify.

— — —

"Like I said, I really don't care about your ideals or what you think this 'plan' of yours might do," Luffy said, breaking his silence, "but what I do care about is what you _have_ done, whether it was to me or my crew directly, or not. Your lectures about morals and what's right and wrong means nothing to me; I'm a pirate, and being a pirate means that I don't get involved in government and politics."

He glared up at Victor, letting out a small burst of Haoshoku Haki to keep him on edge.

He continued. "What does mean something to me, though, is the damage you've caused—all the people who suffered and died because of it—just so you could vent out your frustration and carry out your petty little revenge plan against pirates because of what happened to you more than twenty years ago!"

Victor went to open his mouth, but was cut off as Luffy continued.

"It's because of your actions that I'm here on this night fighting you near One Piece, when I should be claiming it and becoming King of the Pirates! So nothing you say will lessen my anger towards you, and nothing can stop this fight from finishing, and I plan on finishing it now!"

He slammed his fist into the ground.

"Gear Second!"

He sped towards Victor and crouched beneath him. With a grin, he shot his fist back and slammed it into Victor's chest in an upward motion that sent him flying into the air. While he was in the air, Luffy put both his thumbs into his mouth, saying, "And…Gear Third!"

"He's using both Gears at the same time!" Chopper said. "His body can't handle it!"

Luffy sucked in a large amount of air and collected it into his stomach, twisting his body around tightly, while his arms began to grow larger. When he was wound up tight enough, he let all of the air inside him release, causing him to untwist while he let loose a flurry of massive punches towards the airborne Victor.

_"GUM-GUM GIANT JET STORM!"_ he roared as his massive fists pounded Victor.

The momentum of the air sent Luffy into the air as well, and when his punches slacked off, he was above Victor, who was, subsequently above One Piece. Bringing all the power into his right leg, it grew to gargantuan proportions as he raised it high into the air, preparing the final blow.

Victor only looked at Luffy, not saying anything at all—not feeling the need to—as Luffy brought his foot crashing down towards him.

_"GUM-GUM GIANT JET BATTLE AXE!"_

His foot sent Victor crashing down towards One Piece, slamming him right on top of the Random-Random Fruit, smashing it instantly, and sending out a massive shockwave that shook the entire room and cracked the walls on all sides.

Luffy only looked at the fallen Victor, unconscious and lying on top of the mountain of wealth known as One Piece, before shrinking to be child-sized, grinning from ear-to-ear, and falling to the ground in victory.

* * *

The end is nigh...

**Behind the Character (16): Victor D. Capere**

At last, it comes down to the main antagonist of my story, _One Piece: The Night_.

Knowing that this story would take the Straw Hat Crew all the way to Raftel and One Piece for its final setting, I made Victor knowing he was going to stay in it through the long-haul. As such, I wanted him to be a memorable character, and the clear villain in the story.

Design-wise, he's one of those characters I left somewhat ambiguous, so that the reader could picture him in his own way. However, if I was pushed to say who I loosely (emphasis on _loosely_) based him on, I would say it was Vladimir Laitanan from the show _24_.

I created Victor with the mindset of making the archetypal bad guy. By that I don't mean I would make him so gleefully evil (although there's a touch of that) that it's incredibly obvious he's the bad guy. Rather, I made him calm, cool, collect, and gifted in the art of speaking so that he could fool almost anyone he was talking too. I always felt like the villain's plans should be a big thing, and boy, did I have to think up a lot for Victor to make, so naturally he was very smart and good at planning.

The biggest problem I foresaw with this character was his Devil Fruit power. And, wouldn't you know it, I turned out to be correct. Most of the time he came off as incredibly overpowered, breaking the laws set forth that only one Devil Fruit may be eaten by one person (a rule Blackbeard would later break in the series, but I had this idea before it came out in the manga). However, in a way, I think it was _because_ of his overpowered Devil Fruit that made him such a credible threat.

In the end, I knew he had to lose, so I set several parameters to limit his power, and, in turn, limit his power and strength. In the end, his Achilles heel was Haki, an idea which I thoroughly exploited in order to reach this end. And it's because of the fact that he _did_ lose in the end due to his weakness that I think his powers turned out okay.

Now that the story's almost complete and I look back on everything he's done throughout 140 chapters, I see that even if he was overpowered, Victor was a memorable villain. I don't think he'll ever reach the level of One Piece standards, but I did my best to try and make him reach that pinnacle (even making a seven-chapter flashback) to try and make him seem like a real person. True, in the end his motives might have been petty, but I think that just adds to the sense of realism, as most villains are selfish people.

**Please Review/Favorite, it is greatly appreciated!**


	141. Epilogue: The Pirate King

And with the defeat of Victor...? Enjoy the final chapter!

**Disclaimer: **If you don't get it by now, you never will...

* * *

If I've offended you with this rather mild account…I'm not in the least sorry.  
—Edward R. Murrow

—

**141: Epilogue- The Pirate King**

For the next few seconds, it didn't seem real. Luffy landed on his back (his rubbery body absorbing most of the shock) while in his child-like form. While lying there, he took a deep breath and stared up at the now massively cracked roof. He heard his crew from a faraway place, yelling and screaming at him with something unintelligible.

Then, it all began to slow seep back into Luffy's mind. The color around him returned, and the sights and sounds began to conceptualize. For sight, he mostly saw the cracking and now crumbling walls (due to the destruction of the Random-Random Fruit, no doubt), and the sounds were much of the same. It's clear the room—maybe even Raftel itself—won't last long.

_("though if you do get past me and destroy the fruit, the impact it would cause by the sudden eruption of energy brought on by its destruction would most certainly rip this island asunder")_

It was then that his entire crew surrounded their captain. They all had large grins on their faces, and it was then that he began to hear their words.

"You did it! You won!"

"I knew you could do it!"

"Good job, captain!"

"You're the Pirate King!"

Luffy grinned sheepishly as the praise continued to fall upon him. Then, Zoro held out his hand, which Luffy gladly took. With a small heave, Zoro pulled Luffy to his feet, right as he transformed back into an adult. Two seconds after standing, though, he got dizzy, lost his balance, and tumbled forward.

Fortunately, the Straw Hat Crew was there to catch him and carry him out. "Thanks guys," Luffy finally said. "I couldn't have done it without you."

They were about to speak, when a large ripping noise permeated throughout the building, and chunks of gray stone began loosening from the ceiling, dropping on the floor. "Hard to believe a single Devil Fruit could rip a room that's survived for at least a thousand years," Robin said.

"A Devil Fruit composed of _several_ Devil Fruits," Usopp corrected.

Nami looked upwards and asked, "Will they ever be able to be recycled through the earth again like the myths say after being used in such an unnatural way?"

"Probably…"

The entire crew looked behind them to see none other than Victor D. Capere, struggling to keep his head up from the top of One Piece. He was just barely keeping consciousness at this point, but he is still able to speak.

"The Random-Random Fruit carried a tremendous amount of power," he explained. "As soon as Luffy destroyed it the energy was released at once, and it's looking to be more than Raftel can handle."

As if to verify his statement, the room began to shake yet again, as the walls cracked even more and the roof continued to loose large gray chunks of stone.

"Luffy, if that's true, then we need to go now!" Boa Hancock said.

Brook seemed to second this statement as a piece of stone fell dangerously close to him. "She's right, captain! What's the point in becoming the Pirate King if you're going to die immediately after claiming the title?"

Zoro apparently agreed with this statement, as he lifted Luffy and held him horizontally across his shoulders, like he was holding a weight-bar when working out. "Alright, Luffy, let's getcha outta here."

"B-B-B-But what about all the treasure?" demanded Nami. "We're at One Piece, for God's sake!"

Sanji grabbed her arm and began to move her towards the stairs. "Leave it; there'll be more treasure in the world. The title's more important anyways!"

"Wait…" Luffy said quietly as the entire crew began to leave the room. When no one heard him, he focused all his energy and yelled, _"WAIT!"_

A burst of Haoshoku Haki went through him, and the crew felt forced to obey. They stopped on the spot. Luffy looked towards Victor, still lying on his back and staring at the crew, struggling to hold himself up. Bits of the roof began to fall en masse now. Luffy looked directly at him.

"Are you just going to stay here?" he asked.

Victor couldn't help but utter a small laugh. "What else am I supposed to do—I can't move! Are you telling me that one of you is willing to run all the way up here to try and help me?"

There was silence for a second. Then he continued: "Even if you tried, I wouldn't accept it. I'd rather stay here then go out there and be sent to Impel Down for the rest of my life. You've beaten me at every turn, Straw Hat, so just let me die in peace…"

Luffy stared at him in an unsure way, confliction on what do to clearly showing in his eyes. He was about to give an order to his crew, when a particularly bad tremor shook the room, and a large section of the roof came down between Luffy and Victor. After surveying the risk, the decision suddenly became clear to the captain.

Franky yelled, "Come on, Luffy, we gotta go!"

Luffy only nodded.

As the crew went up the stairs and the condition of the room began to worse, Victor gave up the façade of trying to hold himself up and collapsed on his back once again, looking at the crumbling roof.

_("one final adventure. that's what he wants for us. to celebrate the pirate life")_

Victor nodded and said, "I guess I always knew that it was your final adventure, but deep-down, I didn't want it to end…Although it is fitting that I should die here, on top of your final testament to piracy and its lifestyle."

Then, just seconds before the entire room collapsed upon him, Victor smiled and let out a copious amount of laughter.

— — —

Shanks had just finished putting Big Mom in the infirmary on his ship, the _Red Force_, when he stepped off the ship towards the group he travelled there with.

"She'll be fine," he said to them.

Marco breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "How's the other one? What's his name…Tobias?"

"Ah, him," Shank said. They had found him and picked him up on the way back, shackling him in a pair of seastone cuffs before putting him on Shanks's ship. "He'll live as well. I suppose we'll drop him off at some Marine base before we get too far out."

Mihawk looked over at the _Thousand Sunny_, which was only a few yards away from the _Red Force_, which also was, ironically, a few feet away from the _Harbinger_. "So now all we do is wait…"

Shanks nodded.

Dragon and Splint, meanwhile, were overlooking Victor's ship, the _Harbinger_. The revolutionary leader looked at his commander and said, "This will be a good ship for us to leave on."

Splint shrugged. "Sounds good to me, Boss…"

A shockwave ripped through the island, causing everyone to look immediately towards the palace that stood off in the distance.

"The hell is that?" Beckman asked.

"Nothing good, that's for sure," Shanks said with a grimace. "Though I'd imagine that means a winner has been decided between Luffy and Victor. So there's a bit more waiting for us to do before we find out. If it's Luffy and his crew, we greet them with cheer. If it's Victor, we meet him with violence. Agreed?"

The Red-Haired Pirates agreed whole-heartedly…

The shakes and tremors got to be so bad that the trees not-too-far from everyone was beginning to crackle and uproot, collapsing to the floor. No one was sure how much longer they could stay there, but those thoughts disappeared when they saw the Straw Hat Crew running from the forest and towards the beach.

It was Luffy who yelled, _"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!"_

"Luffy!" Shanks and Dragon yelled at the same time.

Just then, the den-den mushi Dragon was carrying on him began to ring, and Dragon quickly held it up. Through it came the voice of none other than Ivankov.

"Dragon, do you read me?" he asked through the static.

"I do. What's your status report?"

A few seconds of silence before he said, "Ve've broken through zhe defenses of Island #37 and are in zhe control rooms! Ve'll be ready to connect you to the public vithin a few minutes, but you'll only have a short vindow of opportunity before—look out, Inazuma! Hee-haw!—before ve have to leave to avoid capture!"

"I understand," the revolutionary said. He motioned towards Splint. "Get the ship moving now. We have to reach a spot with clearer signal."

"But what about your son?" Splint inquired. "He just beat Victor and became the Pirate King."

"And he knows I'm proud of him," replied Dragon coldly. "Now move!"

"Roger that, Boss!"

The _Harbinger_ was setting sail as the Straw Hat Crew made it to everyone else. They didn't notice, though, especially Luffy, who was focused solely on Shanks. When he got there, Zoro put him down, and Luffy had regained enough strength to stand up straight.

"Well?" asked the expectant Yonko.

Luffy gave his patented grin and said, "I won, and now I'm the Pirate King!"

Everyone cheered at this, as it looked like a tears began to form in Shanks's eyes. "I knew giving up my arm for you was worth it. I'm so proud of ya, kid!"

Luffy nodded, and then acted as if he had just remembered something. He took off his straw hat and held it out in front of Shanks. "You told me to return this to you when I become a great pirate. Well, here I am, standing before you as a great pirate."

Shanks shook his head almost immediately. "It's not mine anymore. Gol D. Roger gave me that hat when he thought I was gonna be something great and refused to take it back, and I'm going to do the same with you. The hat is yours, Luffy. Maybe one day you'll give it to someone who you think will be great as well."

With that, Shanks picked the hat up and planted it firmly on

_(Straw Hat)_

Luffy's head. He looked up at Shanks and was about to speak, but the tremors on Raftel got increasingly more violent, as ancient ruins and trees began to crumble and fall.

"We should leave," Marco advised.

Shanks agreed, as Marco, Mihawk, and he clambered onto the _Red Force_. Shanks looked back at Luffy and said, "We'll meet each other again on the high seas soon, Luffy!"

"I look forward to it!" he said.

Robin looked to see everything falling behind her and said, "All of these ruins and ancient history…gone."

"The island probably won't be destroyed," Mihawk observed. "Over time, nature will take its course and it will rebuild itself. For now, though, there's nothing we can do."

"Come on!" Zoro urged, as they all took off towards the _Thousand Sunny_.

— — —

Nami easily remembered the path needed to be taken to get through the Sea of Maelstroms, and everyone passed through it safely. There, they made it through Spectrum Island, logged it, and moved on to the Ember Isle. There, Shanks and his crew decided to stay, at the request of Big Mom, in order to memorialize her fallen crew.

The Straw Hats said their goodbyes and continued off towards the Convergence Point. While they were travelling along, it all seemed to sink into everybody.

Chopper dropped onto his back and stared up at the night sky, which was rapidly fading in way of the sun. "So does this mean we're the greatest crew in the world?"

Sanji grinned as he lit himself a cigarette. "Something like that…"

"It's too bad no one knows about it," Nami said with a sigh. "As far as the rest of the world is concerned, no one's even reached Raftel yet."

"They'll find out eventually," replied Franky. "Information like this has a way of getting out."

Brook nodded and took a sip of tea. "Yeah, the news was so shocking to me at first I thought I'd have a heart attack…"

"But you don't have a heart," Robin said with a smile.

Brook muttered something darkly about the archaeologist stealing his punch-line.

Roronoa Zoro seemed to ignore all of this as he looked towards the front of the ship. "Whatever. Like Franky said, once the Marines catch wind of this information, they'll start…"

He trailed off, causing everyone to look at him and towards his direction. As soon as they saw what Zoro was looking at, all of their mouths were wide open. Right at the beginning of the Convergence Point was a _massive_ blockade of Marine ships, headed by Admiral Aokiji and Rear-Admiral Smoker.

"Well this doesn't look to good…" Hancock said.

Nami was on the verge of tears as she said, "After all this trouble to get to Raftel, it all ends like this…"

Luffy just laughed.

The main ship in the front turned on its den-den mushi to the projector, and said (with Aokiji's voice, the crew believed): _"STRAW HAT CREW, YOU ARE SURROUNDED AND HAVE NOWHERE TO GO! JUST GIVE IN NOW AND WE'LL…I DUNNO, WE'LL PROBABLY PUT YOU IN IMPEL DOWN, OR WHATEVER…"_

"Definitely Aokiji…" everyone said at once.

_"IF YOU DON'T COMPLY, WE'LL BE FORCED TO SHOOT YOU DOWN AND SEND YOU TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN!"_

Usopp looked at Franky and said, "Get the Coup de Burst ready! We'll fly right over them to escape!"

"Uhh…about that," Nami said, scratching the back of her neck. "We're kinda outta fuel."

_"WHAT?"_ Chopper, Franky, Brook, Usopp, Hancock, Sanji, and Zoro said at the same time.

Luffy kept laughing even as he said, "Guys, I was the one who used up the last of it to catch up to Victor."

"Well great, now we're dead," Brook said. "Though I already died once…"

Zoro unsheathed one of his swords and said with a wolfish grin, "There's only one way outta this, then!"

Luffy nodded and said, "Get ready to fight! We'll show 'em why we're the greatest crew in the world!"

The entire crew cheered, ready to fight their way back to the New World. Just before the _Thousand Sunny_ got within firing range of the marines, dark storm clouds appeared over the blockade. Then, just as quickly as they appeared, sheets of rain began falling from the sky along with lightning and thunder. The waves around the blockade began to get tumultuous as well, driving the blockade in half, with just enough space for the _Thousand Sunny_ to get through.

The Straw Hat Crew saw their opportunity and took it, speeding right through the wedge that was driven between the blockade. Before they were just out of the firing range (in which the ships couldn't fire due to wet gunpowder), Luffy looked at them and grinned, waving and yelling, "BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!"

When they were out of sight, the storm stopped, and Rear-Admiral Smoker looked at Aokiji with an incredulous look. "They got away! We need to chase after them immediately!"

Admiral Aokiji shook his head and said, "No can do. They got away. Just leave it at that. Besides"—he motioned towards the three remaining Grand Line islands—"we have some arrests to make, no doubt…"

Later on the Straw Hats would try to dissect that miracle that allowed them to escape, but Luffy dispelled the mystery altogether by looking at the sky and saying, "Thanks, Dad!"

— — —

The Revolutionary Leader Monkey D. Dragon took the _Harbinger_ back to Baltigo, the Land of White Soil. While he was sailing with Splint, he had his den-den mushi on at constant alert. When he wasn't too far into the path he needed to take to get to his base, the den-den mushi stirred.

"Dragon—_BZZT_—zhe setup is all ready to go. Just speak into the den-den mushi and everyone that the World Government has the ability broadcast to can hear you!"

Dragon grinned, and said, "Thanks Ivankov. When you and Inazuma get back, we'll have a massive party for you two."

"Oh that'll be fun," Splint said sarcastically.

After a few seconds, Dragon took a deep breath and spoke into the den-den mushi: "Hello everyone, my name is Monkey D. Dragon, and some of you may know me as the Most Wanted Man in the World. I'm here to tell you a story—a story the World Government has been desperately trying to keep you from knowing. A story about the Void Century, and what the World Government did to get its power. I tell you this hoping that it will give you the courage and reason to finally stand up against tyranny, and with a little luck, change the world. But after this story is told, it will all come down to you and how you will act. Our tale starts on Raftel with a powerful empire known as the Ancient Kingdom…"

— — —

Sir Crocodile took a long puff on his cigar as he finally saw Donquixote Doflamingo walk through the forest-line of Spectrum Island. He grinned wolfishly when he saw the ex-Shichibukai was covered in blood.

"Took you a bit of trouble to finish him off, I can see."

Doflamingo cracked his neck and said, "Shut up, the guy's done anyways." He looked over towards Raftel in the distance. "I felt some tremors coming from that island. What's happening?"

Crocodile shrugged. "A fight with Victor I'd imagine. If my intuitions correct, it ended with him dead."

"Fufufufu, didn't you say you wanted revenge on Victor personally?"

Crocodile took his finished cigar and dropped it onto the sand beneath him, crushing it in one move. "I did, but in the end, I settled for second-rate goods. If there was anyone else I'd want to take care of Victor, though, it'd be that kid."

"Straw Hat's really somethin', huh?" asked Doflamingo with a grin.

Crocodile broke his gaze away from Raftel and began to move towards their own personal ship in the distance. "Can't do anything about it now—come on, let's get outta here before the Marines show up and start making arrests."

— — —

Trafalgar Law and Jewelry Bonney emerged the next day from Law's submarine, _Heartless_, to see that Rarkin Island wasn't completely destroyed from the attack. As soon as they reached the submarine, they descended into the depths of the water to escape the lava's wrath. And while the island was indeed horribly burned, it was certainly wasn't destroyed beyond all capacity.

The first thing they saw was the citizens of the island rebuilding what had been destroyed. With a sigh, Law tipped up his hat slightly and said, "Well, that certainly was an experience…"

"Almost dying due to Akainu's lava powers?" asked Bonney.

Law shrugged and replied with, "No. Fitting both crews into my tiny submarine…"

Bonney sighed and shrugged the comment off. After several seconds, she asked, "So what next?"

Law didn't have an answer, although whatever it was, almost all choices involved continuing to travel with Bonney. "We've still got about a week left to stay on this island. Not much we can do at the moment."

Bonney moved ahead and yawned loudly, stretching her arms by bringing them high into the air. "If that's the case, then let's go find a place that's open that serves plenty of food and booze!"

A vein appeared on Law's head as he followed her, saying, "You still have to pay me for skipping the bill last time!"

— — —

It had been two whole hours before Julia Carrison and Beau Daewn were able to breathe again. Two hours of no tremors and earthquakes proved that they had truly stopped. Julia had stayed true to her word and didn't move a spot from her home, and although her house collapsed and Beau thought they should get to safety, he stayed with her.

Julia moved over to the wreckage of her house and began to sift through the wood it was made out of. "Such a shame about the house…" Beau commented.

Julia turned around and had one of the biggest smiles on her face that he'd seen in a while. "It's not too bad. We can just rebuild it again. The most important thing is that I turned out to be right."

"Right about what?"

The smile didn't disappear as she said, "The land we were standing on could take whatever was thrown at it!"

— — —

"No," Fleet-Admiral Sengoku said defiantly.

"What was that?" roared the incredulous Commander-in-Chief Kong.

Sengoku leaned back in his chair and said, "I refuse to give an order to kill unarmed civilians."

Monkey D. Garp was sitting across from Sengoku, nodding at every word he said in agreement.

"Look, it's not my fault Dragon told everyone about the Void Century, and now they're up-in-arms about trying to change the World Government," Kong said, "but it's _your_ job to make sure that they don't get past Marineford and into Mariejois! And you can be damned sure that it's not your job to not follow orders from the Gorosei!"

Sengoku looked at Garp, who stared back for a few seconds, before finally saying, "If that's the case, then you can consider this my resignation, because I'm not going to order my marines to open fire on a group of civilians right outside."

"Listen, Sengoku—"

"Goodbye."

He hung up the den-den mushi.

Sengoku sighed as he got up from his chair. He moved over towards his window, which overlooked all of Marineford, and saw that a countless number of angered civilians were beginning to move onto the base, encountering no resistance from the marines, as per Sengoku's orders.

"You did the right thing," Garp said. "Dragon's story riled 'em up, no doubt, but it's not our job to kill innocent and angered people that want change."

"Change…" Sengoku said. He continued to stare at the scene happening outside. "When those citizens reach Mariejois and the Gorosei, they'll start demanding a plethora of things to be done differently in this world. When that happens, things will change." He looked at Garp. "Some things might remain the same—things the people like right now—but most things will be different."

"The times, they are a-changin'," was all Garp replied with, and then he laughed.

Sengoku surprisingly laughed at this too.

— — —

The Warden Magellan marched the prisoners in line one-by-one into Level Six of Impel Down. Of the new prisoners, there was Daron Arkan, Kenji and Kaede, Benjamin McAllister, Vendrix Confreski, and Tobias. Almost all of them were wearing seastone cuffs as they were walked together in a straight line.

As soon as the Level Six prisoners caught wind of this, they were all roaring and yelling, rattling at their cages about the "new meat" that was coming in. Of the prisoners, Abalo Pizarro, Catarina Devon, Basco Shot, and Shiryu of the Rain saw them and were immediately up and looking.

"Well, well, look who's finally come to join us," Pizarro said.

Devonsmiled at the group as they passed by, saying, "Welcome home, boys…"

Daron yawned as he looked around and said, "This might not be too bad…"

"I've served the Marines for years," Benjamin said, "and let me tell you that the stories that come out of here aren't that nice."

"Kikikikikiki, you hear that Mommy? This is our new home…I say we should make it all nice for everyone so that we can all get along easier…" Vendrix prattled.

"Shut up," Kaede said to Vendrix. "What do ya think of this place, brother?"

Kenji shrugged. "It could have its charming qualities…"

Tobias remained silent. He would serve out his remaining days here in solitude to try and repent for what he has done over the years.

"You'd better get used to this place," Magellan said, "because you'll be here for the rest of your lives…"

The Level Six prisoners continued to rant and rave to the new men that were going to join their big and happy family.

— — —

The sun was coming up as the _Thousand Sunny_ was peacefully sailing through the New World. They would most likely be reaching their next island in a few days, but none of them thought of that now.

Nami rested her head at the side of the ship and sighed. "All that treasure…just gone. We could've been rich."

"Give it up," Usopp said absently as he sat beside her, fishing on the side of the ship. "We wouldn't know what to do with that much money anyways."

"I would!" Nami said incredulously.

"Shh!" Chopper said. "Don't talk about this to Luffy! I think he's a little upset that we had to leave One Piece behind so quickly."

The three of them turned around to see the rest of the crew on the deck of the ship, doing their own things, while Luffy was on the other side of the deck, looking out the other side into the expansive ocean.

Nami shrugged and began to walk over towards Luffy. "Only one way to find out…"

Everyone on the crew strained their eyes on the navigator as she approached Luffy. All eyes were on her when she put a comforting hand on Luffy's shoulder. He didn't turn around.

"You all right there, captain?"

Luffy turned around and had a goofy grin plastered onto his face. He looked at his entire crew and asked, "So what adventure shall we go on next?"

Everyone smiled at this as they all seemed to speak at once.

"We have to go and see Laboon," Brook said.

"We still have to get married," Hancock said.

"This ship still needs to be on the sea for _years_ before anyone can call her the best ship in the world," Franky said.

"There's still so much more history to know about in the world," Robin said.

"We still have to put an end to all the world's sickness," Chopper said.

"There's way too many tasty recipes to find in the world…and seeing a lot of beautiful women is a plus as well," Sanji said.

"I still have a lot to prove before I can be called a 'Brave Warrior of the Sea'," Usopp said.

"We still have to accrue enough treasure to make One Piece look like a joke," Nami said.

"I still have to beat Mihawk to become the World's Greatest Swordsman," Zoro said.

Luffy looked at his crew and laughed. "Then what are we waiting for?" he asked. _"LET'S GO!"_

Everyone cheered at this, as the _Thousand Sunny_ continued moving forward into the rising sun, taking the Straw Hat Crew to their next great adventure.

* * *

Going onward, always...

**Well, there ya have it folks! I hope you enjoyed my story as much as I enjoyed writing about it (and that took quite a while, with it being the longest story I've _ever_ written). I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed/favorited and stuck with this story. I knew it would be long (the first chapter I wrote said it would be around 90 chapters-hah!), but I even I didn't think it would be over 400,000 words.**

**And it's all thanks to you that I kept my motivation to see it through until the end. Thanks everyone, and see you later!**


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